APJS-2 Updates in research for CAR-T therapy in China

Abstract

As we all know, more and more studies on CAR-T cell therapy were performed in China. And in 2020, although affected by the pandemic of COVID-19, great achievement has been made in both basic and clinical research in CAR-T cell therapy. As for basic research, a variety of new CAR-T related technologies was developed. For instance, CD3 epsilon cytoplasmic domain was incorporated into a second-generation chimeric antigen receptor (CAR), resulting increased antitumor activities and less cytokine release. Up to November 2nd, ten new INDs for CAR-T cell therapies were approved by National Medical Products Administration (NMPA). And, importantly, two New Drug Application of CAR-T cell programs were submitted to NMPA. Additionally, there are 397 clinical trials on CAR-T cell therapies in China. CAR-T cells redirected to new targets such as claudin18.2 and some next-generation of CAR-T cell programs are under clinical evaluation. We believe that all these researches and developments would advance CAR-T cell therapies to help more patients in the near future.