AstraZeneca to acquire China rights for AbelZeta’s CAR-T therapy

The acquisition gives AstraZeneca full global control over the development, manufacturing, and commercialisation of the therapy. AbelZeta will receive up to $630m from AstraZeneca, including upfront payments and milestone fees for the GPC3 programme in China. AstraZeneca previously held rights to C-CAR031 outside of China. AbelZeta remains eligible for additional milestone payments and royalties for development outside of China. C-CAR031, an autologous CAR-T therapy targeting Glypican 3 (GPC3), is designed using AstraZeneca’s dominant negative transforming growth factor-beta receptor II armouring platform. It is currently under investigation for treating hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and other solid tumours. Liver cancer ranks as the third-leading cause of cancer death globally, with HCC being the predominant form, comprising approximately 75% of all primary liver cancers in adults. HCC tends to begin in the liver as a single tumour or multiple nodules, treatable at a local stage. However, most diagnoses occur at an advanced stage with a poor prognosis, a five-year survival rate of just 7% and a median survival of nearly 20 months. AbelZeta chairman and CEO Tony (Bizuo) Liu said: “This transaction reflects our commitment to leverage our platform technology to develop novel cell therapies in solid tumours of high unmet medical need, including HCC, and provides the opportunity to maximise C-CAR031’s global reach.” AbelZeta is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with centres in Rockville, Maryland, US, and Shanghai, China. The company focuses on developing innovative therapeutic products leveraging the body’s immune system to combat various diseases. AbelZeta conducts research at its good manufacturing practice (GMP) facilities across multiple chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies. In May 2025, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted regenerative medicine advanced therapy (RMAT) designation to AbelZeta Pharma’s autologous bi-specific chimeric antigen receptor CAR-T therapy, C-CAR168, for the treatment of refractory systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), including lupus nep