NEW DELHI, Apr 5 (NNN-PTI) – Indian President, Droupadi Murmu, yesterday officially launched the country’s first home-grown gene therapy for cancer, at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, in the country’s financial capital, Mumbai.
Named “NexCAR19,” the new cancer therapy was approved by India’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), in Oct last year.
CDSCO’s approval was based on the results of two small clinical trials, conducted in India involving 64 people with advanced lymphoma or leukemia.
According to trial results presented in Dec last year, at the American Society of Hematology meeting, 67 percent of patients in the two trials had a “notable decrease” in the extent of their cancer.
Hailing “NexCAR19,” Murmu said that, India’s first gene therapy is a “major breakthrough in our battle against cancer,” as it costs nearly one-tenth of the price at which it is available in developed nations like the United States.
The therapy was jointly developed by IIT Bombay and the Tata Memorial Hospital, in association with industry partner ImmunoACT.– NNN-PTI