China: fast trials, few published results
China runs many of the world's early cell- and immune-therapy trials for type 1 diabetes. A look at the rules, the programs, and how they compare with the results from Uppsala.
Type 1 diabetes is much rarer in children in China than in Sweden. In Beijing, the rate among under-15s was 3–5 per 100,000 per year in 2011–2020 (Diabetes Therapy, 2023), against around 40 or more in Sweden (Acta Paediatrica, 2025). But it is rising quickly, fastest in children under five. And China has become one of the busiest places for early trials of new cell and immune therapies.
The rules
On 1 May 2026, a new State Council regulation on clinical research and use of new biomedical technologies came into force (Decree No. 818). It covers technologies at the level of cells or molecules that aren’t yet in clinical use, such as cells processed outside the body and given back:
- Only top-ranked (Grade-A tertiary) hospitals may run such research.
- Participants may not be charged during the research phase.
- According to legal analyses, approved applications can then be offered for payment, a faster route from hospital study to patients (Morgan Lewis, 2026).
Company trials filed as drug trials stay under the separate drug law. The advantage, then, isn’t an absence of rules. It’s a shorter path from hospital study to approval, and many patients to recruit.
Cells
- Chemically induced stem-cell islets (Deng Hongkui, Peking University, and Reprogenix): islets grown from the patient’s own cells. One published patient became insulin-free, but she was already on immunosuppression. A 10-person trial is under way.
- E-islet (Changzheng Hospital, Shanghai): islet tissue grown from endoderm stem cells, with immunosuppression. Early results reported in 2026; a company trial is recruiting.
- Immune-hiding gene-edited islets, like Sana’s: we found no Chinese clinical study.
The immune side, where most is new
- Donor CD7 CAR-T in early type 1 diabetes (Zhongshan Hospital, Shanghai; Nanjing Bioheng): small safety studies, no results yet.
- Patients’ own regulatory T cells, including children from age 8 (Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital).
- In lupus, China is a leader: in 2024, half of the CAR-T candidates in clinical development for lupus were being tested there (GlobalData, 2024).
How it compares
Speed doesn’t equal results. Many Chinese studies are small, and several have posted no results. The clinically most important result so far, transplanted cells surviving without immunosuppression, came from Uppsala.
When a Chinese result is reported first in the press or by a company, we list it as such and wait for the paper.