China to Launch World’s First CAR-T Therapy for Solid Tumors

A new CAR-T cell therapy for advanced gastrointestinal cancers, known as satri-cel (CT041), is expected to become available in China during the first half of 2026. This treatment is the first CAR-T therapy specifically developed for solid tumors that targets Claudin18.2, a biomarker frequently found in pancreatic and gastric cancers.

Jiahui International Cancer Center will be among the leading medical institutions providing access to the therapy for eligible patients. The development addresses a significant unmet need, as advanced pancreatic and gastric cancers often have poor survival outcomes and limited effective options in later lines of therapy.

Clinical Outcomes and Mechanism

Clinical studies conducted in China have shown encouraging outcomes for patients with gastroesophageal and advanced gastric cancers. The objective response rate (ORR) was approximately 41%, which is significantly higher than results seen with standard treatments.

The data also indicates that progression-free survival was extended to approximately 4.7 months, compared to approximately 1.7 months associated with standard care. According to reporting from PR Newswire, some comparisons showed more than a 10x improvement over conventional therapies.

CAR-T therapy is a personalized medical approach that utilizes a patient’s own immune cells. These cells are reprogrammed to recognize and attack cancer cells with precision and have the ability to expand inside the body to continue fighting the cancer over time.

While CAR-T treatments have previously transformed the prognosis for blood cancers, the application of this technology to solid tumors represents a major shift, as effective CAR-T options for solid masses have historically been limited.

Additional Solid Tumor Research in China

Beyond satri-cel, other collaborations are exploring ways to overcome the barriers that limit CAR-T efficacy in solid cancers. CARsgen Therapeutics and Dispatch Bio announced a Phase 1 clinical trial in China involving an investigational product called DISP-11.

This approach combines an autologous CAR-T cell therapy, zevorcabtagene autoleucel (zevor-cel)—which is already approved in China for multiple myeloma—with a tumor-specific oncolytic virus known as DV-10 from the Flare platform.

The process occurs in two sequential stages:

• Patients first receive the DV-10 virus, which is engineered to deliver a modified form of the B-cell maturation antigen (dBCMA) and immune-boosting factors IL-18 and CXCL9 directly into the cancer. This process tags the tumor cells with a synthetic antigen and modifies the tumor microenvironment to recruit and activate T cells.
• A few days after the viral administration, patients are infused with zevor-cel, the CAR-T cell therapy that targets the BCMA antigen.

This dual strategy aims to paint a universal synthetic antigen onto tumor cells, making them more visible and accessible to the engineered T cells.

These developments in China reflect a broader trend in cancer immunotherapy to move beyond hematologic malignancies and address the complexities of the tumor microenvironment in solid organs.