Costs
What CAR-T costs, and what the comparison tables leave out.
Four pathways, four very different bills. These are published, indicative ranges — not quotes, and not offers. The only number that should move you is a hospital's written estimate for your case.
| Pathway | Headline cost | What that number means |
|---|---|---|
| New Zealand · private, self-funded | NZ$700,000 – 900,000 | New Zealand has no publicly funded CAR-T pathway and no private CAR-T infusion service of its own, so this range is effectively the price of private treatment in Australia, including travel and accommodation. It is an indicative published range, not a quote.Source: Pharmac — funded medicines |
| Australia · publicly funded | A$0 if you qualify | Publicly funded for eligible patients under the PBS, including BCMA-directed CAR-T (cilta-cel) for fourth-line-plus myeloma from May 2026 as published. Eligibility is strict and waiting times vary. Ineligible patients still pay privately.Source: PBS — Australian public funding |
| Shanghai · commercial product | US$150,000 – 200,000 | Indicative range from hospital international departments for an NMPA-approved product. There is no published list price for international patients: the hospital's written estimate depends on the product, the indication, and the pathway. It is not a quote. |
| Shanghai · registered clinical research | No charge to participants | Hospital-led clinical research under China's 818 rules may not charge participants any research-related fee. We do not sell, reserve, or broker research places: the hospital selects participants directly, and no research fee is payable.Source: 818 rules — background (China Food & Drug News) |
Sources: published funding decisions and hospital international-patient estimates. We do not convert currencies into a single number on this page, because a favourable exchange rate is not a clinical argument. Ask any provider which product, which protocol, and which line of therapy their number assumes — and, in China, which legal pathway.
Patients in the United Kingdom and Australia may qualify for publicly funded CAR-T at home. In the United States coverage depends on the insurer and plan. In Canada, several provinces fund CAR-T for eligible patients under strict criteria; coverage and wait times vary by province. New Zealand has no publicly funded pathway. We check the position for your country and indication before quoting a Shanghai pathway, because for some patients the rational answer is to stay home.
Regulatory update · 2026
Clinical research in China cannot be bought.
China's 818 rules (State Council Order No. 818), in force 1 May 2026, prohibit charging participants in clinical research: no research fee, no cost recovery, and no “investigational” package under any name. We do not sell, reserve, or price research places. If a hospital considers you for a registered study, it approaches you directly and no research fee is payable. A sub-US$100,000 “investigational” quote should now be treated as a red flag, not a bargain.
Why the old US$40,000–60,000 figure has gone. That range was widely quoted for hospital-led investigator-initiated studies. Under the 818 rules, the research stage may not charge participants; a hospital that wants to charge for clinical application after a study needs a separate NHC approval, and those approvals are rare. If someone quotes you a low “investigational” price today, ask two questions: which approval allows the charge, and where is the ethics approval? A lawful research participant pays nothing.
We do not sell research places. We do not reserve one, price one, or take a coordination fee that is really a price of admission. If a hospital considers you for a registered study, it will tell you directly. Our coordination fee is for logistics, and we will decline an engagement where the fee would function as a research charge.
Included
What the hospital estimate covers
- Hospital consultation and pre-treatment workup
- Apheresis (cell collection) and manufacturing
- Lymphodepleting chemotherapy
- CAR-T infusion and the inpatient stay around it
- Standard monitoring, including ICU back-up where the protocol requires it
- Discharge summary and the first follow-up visit
Excluded
What it usually does not
- Complications that extend the stay, including prolonged ICU care
- A second infusion or a second product if the first fails
- Medicines after discharge, including anti-infectives and growth factors
- Rehabilitation, home nursing, and travel home while unwell
- Anything your travel insurer excludes because the trip is for treatment
We ask every hospital for these exclusions in writing before you commit. A quote that does not name them is not a quote.
Trip costs
The part that never makes it into the table.
A CAR-T admission is not a two-week trip. Planning assumes six to eight weeks on the ground for the patient, plus a companion. These are our planning estimates, not quotes.
| Item | Planning range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Return flights, Auckland ↔ Shanghai | NZ$1,200 – 2,500 | Economy, one traveller. A companion doubles this. |
| Accommodation near the hospital, 6–8 weeks | NZ$5,000 – 12,000 | Serviced apartment. Hospital-adjacent hotels cost more. |
| Visa, insurance, translation, incidentals | NZ$1,000 – 3,000 | Depends on passport, length of stay, and existing cover. Standard travel policies usually exclude travel undertaken to receive treatment. |
| Our coordination fee | US$15,000 – 30,000 | Fixed scope, milestone payments. Not a percentage of treatment, and never a fee for a research place. |
Commercial product
US$170,000 – 240,000
Approved product at commercial pricing, plus our fee, plus trip costs. Fewer variables, much larger number.
Registered clinical research
Treatment: no charge
A study place cannot be bought. Travel, accommodation, and any coordination you choose are still yours; we do not charge for securing a research place, and we do not claim to have one.
Hospitals
How a hospital gets on our shortlist.
We do not publish a logo wall. We do publish the test a hospital has to pass, and we verify it against public registers and the hospital’s own documents before naming it in a paid review.
- Registered with China's National Health Commission and operating as a tertiary (三级甲等) hospital with an international-patient department.
- NMPA approval for the product and indication, or NHC approval of the clinical technology — we ask for the approval reference, not a brochure.
- Written eligibility criteria and a written cost estimate for your case, including the exclusions listed above.
- Capacity to issue an English discharge summary and accept an international patient for the full admission.
- No per-patient payment, commission, or referral fee to us. If one is offered, we decline in writing.
- Verified against public registers and the hospital's own documents before we name it in a paid review.
Method
How we assembled these numbers.
We start from public funding decisions — what New Zealand’s Pharmac funds, what Australia’s PBS lists, what Canadian provinces publish — because that is where the gap actually comes from. We then use published international-patient estimates from Chinese hospitals, and our own quotes for flights and accommodation, and we keep the currencies separate.
Where a number is an estimate, we say so. Where we do not know, we do not fill the gap with a confident-looking figure. That is also why the paid review exists: it replaces our range with a hospital’s written answer for your case.
Useful primary sources:
Pharmac — New Zealand pharmaceutical funding
PBS — Australian public funding
China Food & Drug News — what the 818 rules changed
Canadian Cancer Survivor Network — blood cancer treatment access in Canada
Reviewed 10 November 2026. Nothing on this page is a quote, an offer, or medical advice.
Our fee
US$350 for the written review
Credited against the coordination fee if you proceed, and refunded in full if no hospital offers you a pathway.
- An administrative records review against hospitals’ published criteria
- The hospital’s own written position, where one can be obtained
- Up to two hospital options with indicative cost and timeline
- The record and test list the hospital will require
- A 20-minute call to walk through it
What the coordination fee pays for
A fixed fee, not a percentage, invoiced in three milestones tied to deliverables:
- 01Records accepted and submitted. File checked for completeness, translated to the hospital's intake standard, and submitted to the named international department.
- 02Written hospital position. The hospital's eligibility answer, indicative cost, and timeline, translated and explained on one page.
- 03In-country coordination through handover. Admission, interpreting at key consultations, payment-route support, English discharge summary, and the handover to your team at home.
Refunds, in one paragraph: the review fee is refunded in full if no hospital offers you a pathway, or if you cancel before the review starts. Coordination milestones that have not been earned are refunded on written cancellation. Third-party bookings with licensed travel providers follow that provider’s terms. Statutory cancellation rights — including the UK 14-day right — are set out in the terms.
Insurance
Assume the travel policy will not cover this.
Standard travel insurance usually excludes travel undertaken to receive treatment. Specialist cover for treatment-abroad complications is rare and expensive, and we cannot guarantee that a policy exists for your case. If it does not, complications, an extended ICU stay, and repatriation are your cost. We give you a written checklist of what to ask insurers, but not a false sense of cover.
Visa
There is no general medical visa.
China does not have a general “medical visa” category. Most patients use an S2 private-visit visa with a hospital invitation or an L tourist visa. A six-to-eight-week stay may need extending at the local exit-entry administration before the permitted stay expires. We set out the route for your passport and the extension plan in writing; the consulate decides. Overstaying can mean fines, detention, or a re-entry ban.
LukeBridge is not a medical provider. We coordinate records, hospital introductions, and in-country logistics. We do not diagnose, treat, prescribe, or supply medicines, and no doctor–patient relationship is created. Every clinical decision is made by the hospital’s physicians. Full compliance notice.