HOPE FLOATS

CAR-T therapy is seen to be on the verge of a breakthrough, raising hopes for both cancer patients as well as medical tourism. But can it become the first line of treatment?

- SOHINI DAS

At least 50 patients go for CAR-T treatment to China, which has more than 200 outfits working in this area, say industry insiders. In comparison, India has three players, and only one of themImmunoACT has a CAR-T product available commercially.

But things could change.

Rahul Purwar, founder and chairman of ImmunoACT, says not many would have gone to China for treatment since the IIT Bombay spinoff, backed by Hyderabad-based Laurus Labs, started commercially offering CAR-T therapy (NexCAR19) in India last November.

"We are offering the treatment at $50,000 and their cost is around $200,000. So, India obviously has a major edge here," he says.

In the US, this costs $800,000$900,000 per patient, including pre and post-infusion care.

The immune system is the body's natural defence against infections and old or abnormal cells, including those that make up cancer. In CAR-T treatment, chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR-T) are genetically engineered to produce an artificial T cell receptor for use in immunotherapy.

Traditionally, CAR-T is delivered through the autologous route, which involves extracting the patient's blood, genetically re-engineering the cells, and infusing it back into the patient. The process takes three weeks or sovein to vein.

ImmunoACT's CAR-T product was approved by the Indian drug regulator last October for B-cell malignancies.

"If any country can bring the cost of this therapy down, it is India, as we have talented manpower," says Esha Kaul, Director, HaematoOncology, Bone Marrow Transplant, Max Super Speciality Hospital, Vaishali, on the outskirts of Delhi.

Purwar says around 2,500 patients are in the queue for receiving CAR-T treatment at ImmunoACT, which is increasing its capacity. In 2024-25, it will be able to process 300-500 patients, and by March 2025 it would have a capacity to process 2,000 patients a year.

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