For years, CAR T cell therapy has been associated mainly with blood cancers.
Now, that picture is beginning to change.
In 2026, China approved satricabtagene autoleucel, known as satri-cel, for eligible patients with CLDN18.2-positive, HER2-negative advanced gastric cancer or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer. It represents a significant milestone in cell therapy: satri-cel is the first CAR T cell therapy approved for a solid tumor.
This breakthrough is also why Larry Black and his wife, Jamie, traveled from Los Angeles to Shenzhen.
Their story, recently featured by PEOPLE, offers a very personal look at what this technological advance means for a patient who is searching for another treatment option.
Read more about Larry’s story traveling to China seeking for CAR-T cell therapy for GEJ cancer.
From blood cancers to solid tumors
CAR T cell therapy works by taking a patient’s own T cells, genetically modifying them to recognize a specific cancer target, expanding those cells, and then returning them to the patient.
The technology has already transformed treatment for several blood cancers. Solid tumors have been a much more difficult challenge.
Unlike many blood cancers, solid tumors can have a complicated tumor environment that makes it harder for CAR T cells to reach, recognize and remain active against cancer cells. Finding a suitable target that is present on cancer cells while limiting damage to healthy tissue has also been a major challenge.
CLDN18.2 has emerged as one of the important targets being explored in gastrointestinal cancers.
Satri-cel is designed to recognize CLDN18.2 on cancer cells. Earlier clinical research demonstrated its potential in patients with CLDN18.2-positive advanced gastrointestinal cancers, while the later CT041-ST-01 phase II trial became the first randomized controlled trial of CAR T cell therapy in solid tumors globally.
The phase II study included patients with previously treated advanced gastric or GEJ cancer whose tumors expressed CLDN18.2 at the specified level. Satri-cel significantly improved progression-free survival compared with physician’s choice of treatment in the study population.
These results helped move CLDN18.2-targeted CAR T cell therapy from an experimental concept toward an approved treatment option.
Why China became the destination
For Larry, this scientific progress was not simply something to read about in a medical journal.
It became a treatment possibility.
After being diagnosed with esophageal cancer and undergoing chemotherapy and surgery in the United States, Larry’s cancer later returned and spread to the peritoneum. His wife, Jamie, began looking extensively into emerging treatment approaches.
Their research eventually led them to CLDN18.2 and satri-cel.
Because satri-cel had been approved in China for eligible gastric and GEJ cancer patients, China became the place where Larry could pursue this particular treatment option.
That distinction is important.
The couple did not travel thousands of miles simply to find a different hospital. They traveled because a particular piece of cell therapy technology had reached clinical approval in China before it became an approved treatment option for solid tumors in the United States.
Turning a patient’s own cells into a living treatment
One of the most remarkable aspects of CAR T cell therapy is that the treatment is not simply a conventional drug taken from a bottle.
It begins with the patient.
Larry underwent apheresis to collect his T cells. Those cells are then processed and genetically engineered to create his personalized CAR T cell product. After manufacturing and the necessary preparation, the cells are infused back into the patient.
In other words, the treatment is built from the patient’s own immune cells.
For patients and families, this makes the treatment journey very different from conventional chemotherapy. It also requires specialized medical facilities, cell-processing capabilities, clinical expertise and careful coordination at every stage.
Supporting patients as technology crosses borders
For Gene Medical, Larry and Jamie’s journey has been particularly meaningful.
For decades, researchers have worked to make CAR T cell therapy effective against solid tumors. Satri-cel marks an important milestone in that effort—the first CAR T cell therapy to receive approval for a solid tumor indication.
For patients like Larry, advances in biotechnology are no longer just scientific headlines. They can become real treatment options.
And sometimes, accessing the next generation of cancer therapy means crossing a border to reach where that technology is available.
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