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CHICAGO — A next-generation CAR-T therapy was able to substantially shrink tumors in patients with liver cancer in early clinical data presented Monday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting. The study, though preliminary and small with only 24 patients, represents a triad of firsts for one of the trial’s sponsors.

“It’s the first CAR therapy working in liver cancer. First validation of targeting GPC3 as a target. It’s the first validation of our armoring strategy. And it’s the first of many of our visions of CAR therapy in general,” Matt Hellmann, a medical oncologist and early development oncology lead at AstraZeneca, said in an interview.

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This abstract, presented by cancer researcher Qi Zhang of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, is yet another significant showing by AstraZeneca at this ASCO. The company had two plenary presentations on its blockbuster lung cancer drug Tagrisso and immunotherapy drug Imfinzi — as well as new results on Enhertu, which AstraZeneca developed with Daiichi Sankyo.

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