Veteran Actress Nafisa Ali Shares Health Update, Opens Up About Her Ongoing Cancer Battle

Veteran actress-turned-politician Nafisa Ali has lived a life of bold choices and remarkable achievements. Diagnosed with stage 2 peritoneal and ovarian cancer in 2018, she is currently undergoing chemotherapy. Despite the challenge, she remains hopeful and strong in spirit, sharing touching quotes about sibling love and her journey. Nafisa was a national swimming champion and won the Eve’s Weekly Miss India title in 1976, representing India at Miss International where she was crowned second runner-up. She left Bollywood at the peak of her success and married R.S. Sodhi, a Sikh army officer and Arjuna Awardee, despite her family's disapproval.

Anixa Biosciences has reported preliminary data from its phase 1 clinical trial evaluating a novel follicle-stimulating hormone receptor–targeting chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)/chimeric endocrine receptor (CER) T-cell therapy for ovarian cancer. The company highlighted that one patient from the trial's first cohort has survived for 28 months, exceeding the disease-specific median survival benchmarks Some Patients Treated in Anixa's Ovarian Cancer CER T Trial Show Longer-Than-Expected Survival^[1].

The trial, conducted in collaboration with Moffitt Cancer Center, has completed dosing in the fourth cohort, with patients receiving a significantly higher dose of 3 × 10^6 CAR-positive cells per kilogram of body weight compared to the initial 1 × 10^5 cells/kg in the first cohort. No dose-limiting toxicities have been reported in the fourth cohort Some Patients Treated in Anixa's Ovarian Cancer CER T Trial Show Longer-Than-Expected Survival^[1].

Anixa Biosciences has also submitted a protocol amendment to the FDA, allowing for second doses of the CER T-cell therapy for patients who may benefit. This amendment was approved by the FDA in February 2025 and expands the trial to include patients with sex cord–stromal tumors and Sertoli-Leydig cell tumors .

The company's chairman and CEO, Amit Kumar, PhD, expressed optimism about the potential of the CAR T therapy for ovarian cancer at higher dose levels. He noted that while the study is primarily designed to assess safety, the early indications of potential efficacy are encouraging Some Patients Treated in Anixa's Ovarian Cancer CER T Trial Show Longer-Than-Expected Survival^[1].

The approval of the protocol amendment is a significant step in optimizing the treatment for ovarian cancer and expanding the trial's scope to include rare types of ovarian cancer . Anixa Biosciences continues to collaborate with Moffitt Cancer Center to improve outcomes for patients facing this challenging disease.