SHANGHAI, June 22 (Reuters) – China’s drug regulator said on Monday it has approved a CARsgen Therapeutics treatment for stomach cancer, a new milestone for CAR-T therapies, which engineer patients’ immune cells to recognise and kill cancer cells.
The injection, also known as satri-cel, is globally the first approved CAR-T cell therapy for solid tumors, CARsgen CEO Li Zonghai told Reuters in an interview after the announcement.
“So many patients are waiting for that,” Li said. CARsgen shares rose 6.8% on Monday.
CAR-T therapy is already used to treat blood cancers including leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma. But it is not easy for engineered cells to survive and work in the hostile microenvironment of a solid tumor, Li said.
Li added he thought CARsgen would disclose the price on Tuesday, and the first patient would be dosed in at least three to four weeks. A couple of patients were already waiting for the drug, he said.
He said he expected about 200 orders for the drug in the second half of 2026.
(Reporting by Andrew Silver in Shanghai; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Jan Harvey)
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