UCI Health has opened a clinical trial with principal investigator Sheetal Desai, MD, Chief, Division of Rheumatology and principal investigator at the UCI Alpha Clinic, investigating FT819, an innovative CAR T-cell therapy designed to provide long-term remission for patients with moderate to severe systemic lupus erythematosus who have not responded to standard treatments.

Unlike traditional CAR T-cell approaches, FT819 does not require harvesting and reprogramming a patient’s own cells, reducing preparation time and hospitalization. Early results are promising: one of the first participants, a 41-year-old woman from Irvine, experienced a dramatic reversal of symptoms and regained normal function after nearly two decades of severe disease.