Chinese study finds new CAR-T therapy may be safe, low-cost option

Three patients with autoimmune diseases successfully treated with general purpose version of a therapy used to treat blood cancers

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The therapy works by genetically modifying T-cells – a type of white blood cell – to recognise and attack enemies such as cancer cells. Image: Shutterstock

Published: 3:00pm, 18 Jul 2024

Chinese researchers have developed a new version of a cell therapy used to treat blood cancers, and they say it has potential as a versatile and much cheaper option than those currently being used.

The treatment, known as CAR-T, is a type of immunotherapy that has taken off in recent years and has also shown promise in treating other conditions such as asthma.

But the cost of the therapy is prohibitive. After it was first approved in the United States in 2017, commercial CAR-T therapies now cost between US$370,000 and US$530,000, not including hospital fees and drugs to treat side effects, according to a March paper in Nature.

CAR-T, or chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, works by genetically engineering a patient’s own T-cells – a type of white blood cell crucial for fighting infections – to recognise and destroy enemies such as cancer cells.

The treatment is highly specialised and personalised, which is why it remains so expensive. It involves extracting a patient’s T-cells, genetically modifying them and then returning them to the patient’s body.

The new version developed by a team of researchers in Shanghai works a little differently. Called TyU19, it uses T-cells from healthy donors then genetically modifies them. The team said it was a universal medicine, so a batch could be used to treat many patients, greatly reducing the cost.