Nine CAR-T products are now approved in China — including the world's first CAR-T for a solid tumour. Here is what each one targets, what it costs, and how patients pay for it.
China has built one of the world's most active CAR-T approval landscapes. All nine products below are approved by the NMPA and used in qualified Chinese hospitals. Prices are the publicly reported list price for the product itself.
| Brand (INN) | Target | Approved indication | Maker | Approved | List price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 奕凯达® (Yescarta®)axicabtagene ciloleucel | CD19 | Relapsed/refractory large B-cell lymphoma (≥2 lines) | Fosun Kite | 2021 | ¥1,200,000 |
| 倍诺达® (Carteyva®)relmacabtagene autoleucel | CD19 | Relapsed/refractory large B-cell lymphoma; follicular lymphoma | JW Therapeutics | 2021 | ¥1,290,000 |
| 福可苏® (Fucaso®)equecabtagene autoleucel | BCMA | Relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (≥3 lines) | IASO Bio / Innovent | 2023 | ¥1,166,000 |
| 源瑞达®inaticabtagene autoleucel | CD19 | Relapsed/refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (adults); large B-cell lymphoma | Juventas | 2023 | ¥999,000 |
| 赛恺泽®zevorcabtagene autoleucel | BCMA | Relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (≥3 lines) | CARsgen | 2024 | ¥1,150,000 |
| 卡卫荻® (Carvykti®)ciltacabtagene autoleucel | BCMA | Relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (≥3 lines) | Legend Biotech / J&J | 2024 | Not published in China |
| 恒凯莱®rencecabtagene autoleucel | CD19 | Relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (≥2 lines) | Henrunda | 2025 | ¥899,000 |
| 普利得凯®pujicabtagene autoleucel | CD19 | Relapsed/refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, ages 3–21 | Chongqing Precision Biotech | 2025 | Not published |
| 恺力美®satricabtagene autoleucel | CLDN18.2 | CLDN18.2-positive, HER2-negative advanced gastric / gastro-oesophageal junction adenocarcinoma (≥2 lines) | CARsgen | 2026 | ¥990,000 |
Prices are publicly reported list prices for the product in mainland China as of October 2026, in renminbi. They exclude apheresis, bridging therapy, conditioning chemotherapy, hospital stay, ICU support and follow-up, which are billed separately and vary by centre. Additional indications continue to be added after first approval. This table is educational and not exhaustive.
The gap is not a discount on quality — it is the same class of product, priced for a different health-economics system.
| Disease group | Typical China list price | Typical US list price | Approximate difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Relapsed/refractory large B-cell lymphoma (CD19) | ¥0.90–1.29M (≈ US$125,000–180,000) | US$370,000–475,000 | 60–75% lower in China |
| Relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (BCMA) | ¥1.15–1.17M (≈ US$160,000) | US$420,000–465,000 | 60–65% lower in China |
| Advanced gastric / GEJ adenocarcinoma (CLDN18.2) | ¥990,000 (≈ US$139,000) | Not approved outside China | Only available in China |
These six FDA-approved CAR-T therapies set the clinical benchmarks the Chinese products are measured against. Their US list prices sit between roughly US$370,000 and US$500,000 for the drug alone.
| Brand (INN) | Target | Representative indications | Maker |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kymriah® (tisagenlecleucel) | CD19 | B-ALL; DLBCL; follicular lymphoma | Novartis |
| Yescarta® (axicabtagene ciloleucel) | CD19 | Large B-cell lymphoma; follicular lymphoma | Kite / Gilead |
| Tecartus® (brexucabtagene autoleucel) | CD19 | Mantle cell lymphoma; B-ALL | Kite / Gilead |
| Breyanzi® (lisocabtagene maraleucel) | CD19 | Large B-cell lymphoma; follicular lymphoma | BMS |
| Abecma® (idecabtagene vicleucel) | BCMA | Relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma | BMS / 2seventy bio |
| Carvykti® (ciltacabtagene autoleucel) | BCMA | Relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma | Janssen / Legend |
Two of these — Yescarta and Carvykti — are also approved and manufactured in China under local brand names (奕凯达 and 卡卫荻), which is why Chinese patients can access the same technology at Chinese prices.
CAR-T is not a chemical that can be manufactured by the tonne. Every dose is a batch of one, made from one patient's cells, and released only after that patient is already waiting.
Cells are collected by apheresis, genetically engineered, expanded for roughly two weeks, tested, frozen and shipped back. Nothing is shared between patients, so every step carries a full fixed cost for a single dose.
The gene-delivery vector alone has historically cost US$15,000–30,000 per patient. A single set of imported cell-processing consumables has been reported at over ¥100,000. Both line items sit inside the price of the drug.
Traditional manual cleanroom production supports only tens of patients per site per year. Fixed costs are spread across very few doses, and a failed batch means a patient is treated weeks later — or not at all.
Every dose requires release testing, chain-of-identity verification, cytogenetic monitoring and a hospital able to manage cytokine release syndrome and neurological toxicity with ICU backup. That infrastructure is not free.
No CAR-T product is covered by China's national basic medical insurance. Payment instead comes from a stack of city-level and commercial schemes built up over the past few years.
The published list price is what an uninsured patient is charged for the product. Everything else in the table above starts from this number.
More than 60% of China's city-level "Huiminbao" schemes now include CAR-T as a special drug benefit. Reimbursement is typically 60–90% for healthy enrolees and 20–40% for those with pre-existing conditions.
China's first Commercial Health Insurance Innovative Drug Catalogue took effect on 1 January 2026 and includes five CAR-T products. Private medical policies covering CAR-T can reimburse up to 100% of the drug cost.
Several makers run patient assistance and instalment arrangements through hospitals, and competition is pushing list prices down directly — see the trend below.
The ¥1.2 million price of 2021 is no longer the floor of the market. Each of these developments pushes the entry point lower.
Four CD19 products now compete for the same lymphoma patients. The newest entrant, 恒凯莱, launched at about ¥899,000 — roughly 25% below the first product to market — and entered CSCO lymphoma guidance in 2026.
A Shanghai developer has filed for approval of a CAR-T priced at ¥230,000–250,000, built on home-made equipment, consumables and an automated closed production line rather than imported manual workflow. Its filing was accepted in April 2026.
Allogeneic products made from healthy donors could be manufactured in batches, and in-vivo CAR-T would skip the laboratory entirely by engineering T cells inside the body. Both are in clinical development in China.
In June 2026 the NMPA approved 恺力美 (satricabtagene autoleucel), the first CAR-T anywhere in the world approved for a solid tumour. It targets CLDN18.2 in advanced gastric and gastro-oesophageal junction adenocarcinoma that is HER2-negative and has progressed after at least two lines of therapy.
It is priced at ¥990,000. Media reports describe a patient from New Zealand with advanced gastro-duodenal adenocarcinoma travelling to Shanghai for treatment after chemotherapy and immunotherapy failed — among the first international patients treated with the product.
See All Indications →CD19 CAR-Ts treat B-cell cancers (leukaemias, lymphomas). BCMA CAR-Ts treat multiple myeloma. CLDN18.2 CAR-Ts treat gastric and junctional adenocarcinoma. The target determines which disease a product can address.
A product may be approved for one or more specific, often relapsed/refractory, conditions. Exact eligible lines of therapy differ by country and product — and several products carry more than one indication.
Which product and indication are actually accessible to an international patient depends on the treating hospital's accreditation and stock. We match you to a centre that holds the product you need.