CHICAGO, June 5, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CARsgen Therapeutics (CARsgen), a global biotech start-up focused on developing chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T cell) therapies for solid tumors, disclosed the preliminary safety and efficacy results from a global first-in-man clinical trial of CAR-GPC3 T cell therapy in the treatment for adult patients with relapsed or refractory hepatocellular carcinoma at the 2017 Annual Meeting of American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

"There is limited effective therapy for patients with relapsed or refractory hepatocellular carcinoma. It is an urgent unmet medical need to discover and deliver an effective treatment with substantial survival benefit for the patients with advanced hepatocelluar carcinoma. The preliminary safety and efficacy outcomes from our first-in-man clinical trial of CAR-GPC3 T cell therapy are quite encouraging. " Zonghai Li, MD, Ph.D., the President and CEO of CARsgen, said at ASCO presentation. "Among the 13 patients treated with CAR-GPC3 T cell therapy, all patients well tolerated the study treatment. Neither DLT nor Grade 3 nor above adverse event was reported in the trial. Glypican 3 (GPC3) is a highly specific marker for hepatocellular carcinoma, which may minimize the potential occurrence of 'On Target, Off Tumor' toxicity and contribute to the impressive safety profile. Among the 5 evaluable patients treated with the regimen to be further tested in the upcoming global Phase Ib/II trial, 1 patient achieved partial response (PR), 2 patients maintained stable disease (SD), and 2 patients developed progressive disease (PD). Except 1 PD patient deceased at 12 months, all other patients are in active survival follow up for 14, 20, 14 and 10 months, respectively. With these encouraging results, we plan to initiate a global Phase Ib/II trial in the near future."

About ASCO Annual Meeting

Founded in 1964, American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) is widely respected as one of the prestigious professional oncology communities globally. Every year, the ASCO conference gathers over 35,000 professionals worldwide to share the most current clinical researches and practices in oncology.

About CARsgen Therapeutics

CARsgen Therapeutics is a rapid growing bio-tech start-up with the original CAR-T therapy discovery expertise, competitive GMP manufacturing capability, and global clinical development experience. CARsgen commit to deliver the most advanced yet affordable cell therapies to patients with unmet medical needs. With broad discovery pipeline across solid tumor and hematology malignancies, CARsgen proceeds the clinical development with a clear focus in CAR-T therapy for solid tumors. Founded in Nov 2014, CARsgen raised $30M in early 2016 in Series B. Four of its pioneering CAR-T cell therapies, anti-GPC3 CAR-T for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), anti-GPC3 CAR-T for squamous lung cancer (SLC), cancer-specific anti-EGFR CAR-T for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and first-in-class anti-Claudin18.2-CAR-T for gastric and pancreatic cancer have all entered early clinical development.

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