Four patients in Anixa Biosciences’ Phase 1 ovarian cancer CAR-T trial have survived more than a year after treatment. One has lived nearly two and a half years, the company reported on October 13, 2026. Anixa also reported no dose-limiting toxicities. These are early clinical observations: the first patient treated at the highest dose had stable disease 90 days after infusion, according to the company’s October update.
Jose Conejo-Garcia, the therapy’s inventor, is scheduled to present at the 2026 Ovarian Cancer Midwest Focus Conference on November 3.
Anixa’s investigational therapy, liraltagene autoleucel, or lira-cel, is being evaluated with Moffitt Cancer Center in an ongoing Phase 1 trial. The study tracks safety as doses increase and looks for early signs of efficacy. Anixa says no dose-limiting toxicities have been observed to date. The company has described the four survival durations and the 90-day stable-disease finding as early patient-level updates, not established evidence of clinical benefit.
The stable-disease finding at the highest dose appeared in a trial update. The survival durations are individual observations. They do not estimate what proportion of the trial population may benefit from treatment.
Conejo-Garcia is a professor of immunology in the Department of Integrative Immunobiology at Duke University School of Medicine. His presentation, titled “Closing in: Cracking Ovarian Cancer's Resistance to Immunotherapy,” is scheduled for 9:00 AM CT on Tuesday, November 3, at the Marriott Hotel in Rochester, Minnesota. Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota are hosting the conference on November 2 and 3.
Lira-cel uses chimeric endocrine receptor-T, or CER-T, cell technology designed to target the follicle-stimulating hormone receptor, FSHR. Anixa says FSHR is expressed on ovarian cancer cells and, to a lesser extent, in healthy tissues. Conventional CAR-T designs use an antibody fragment to recognize a target. CER-T instead uses the natural FSH ligand to bind FSHR. Anixa says the approach is intended to target tumor cells along with tumor-associated blood vessels. The company is developing the platform with Moffitt Cancer Center.
The Phase 1 trial is testing an investigational treatment, and the reported observations do not establish clinical benefit. Conejo-Garcia’s keynote is scheduled for 9:00 AM CT on November 3.
