Oricell Therapeutics has secured a $40 million pre-IPO financing round, bringing its total funding to over $110 million. The Shanghai-based company is developing autologous CAR-T therapies aimed at solid tumors, with a lead candidate targeting glypican-3 (GPC3) for a form of liver cancer.
If successful in clinical testing, the therapy could become the first CAR-T treatment for liver cancer, a significant unmet medical need. The company's approach focuses on overcoming the challenges of applying cell therapy to solid tumors, which have historically been more difficult to target than blood cancers.