Oricell Therapeutics Holdings Ltd.’s glypican-3 (GPC3)-targeted autologous CAR T therapy, Ori-C101, is heading into a confirmatory registration phase II trial in patients with GPC3-positive advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, positioning it as the first GPC3-directed immune cell therapy – and the first CAR T therapy for liver cancer – to reach that stage of development.

In the most simplistic view, adult cancers occur because “immature cells are exposed to mutagens, accumulate mutations, and across life ultimately transform into cancer cells,” Franck Bourdeaut told his audience at the 2026 Annual Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA 2026). “On the contrary, in pediatric cancers, it is assumed that very few mutations are responsible for a maturation block, make these cells derail from their normal differentiation trajectory and ultimately result in an early onset typical pediatric cancer.”