The Lancet Haematology published the clinical trial results of India’s first Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-Cell Therapy. The trial results showed a 73% response rate in leukemia and lymphoma patients.

India’s CAR T-cell therapy matches global effectiveness. It is 20 times cheaper compared internationally. The treatment costs Rs 25 lakh compared to Rs 3-4 crore internationally. The therapy reported manageable side effects.Two treatment-related deaths were reported, but overall, the safety profile was considered manageable. 

India’s therapy provides an additional, patient-specific treatment option. As it modified T-cells remain in the body, offering long-term immunity against cancer recurrence.

It is a patient-specific treatment, making it highly precise compared to traditional chemotherapy.

On April 4, 2024, the President of India, Smt Droupadi Murmu, launched India’s first home-grown gene therapy for cancer, “CAR-T cell therapy.” This therapy expected to be available to cancer patients at a tenth of the cost abroad.

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           CAR-T is an innovative therapy. It transforms immune cells, explicitly T-cells, by turning them into potent cancer fighters known as CAR-T cells.

T-cells, whose primary role is cytotoxic , meaning it can kill other cells. They are special cells (white blood cells that find and fight illness and infection in the body). In CAR-T therapy, these T-cells genetically modified to cancer-fighting cells. These genetically modified cells then put back into the body, and they go after cancer cells — especially in blood cancers like leukaemia and lymphomas.

It is made by collecting T cells from the patient and re-engineering them in the laboratory. It produces proteins on their surface called chimeric antigen receptors, or CARs. The CARs recognize and bind to specific proteins, or antigens, on the surface of cancer cells.