President to inaugurate indigenous cancer therapy at IIT Bombay

President Droupadi Murmu is set to inaugurate India’s pioneering CAR T-Cell therapy for advanced blood cancer treatment

Mumbai: President Droupadi Murmu is set to inaugurate India’s pioneering CAR T-Cell therapy for advanced blood cancer treatment at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, Powai campus on April 4. This development brings hope to Indian patients, offering the therapy at a significantly reduced cost of ₹40 lakh, in contrast to the exorbitant ₹5 crore expense in the US, rendering it inaccessible to many.

President Droupadi Murmu (File Photo) (HT_PRINT)

CAR T-Cell therapy, a live drug, is a personalised treatment. Unlike chemotherapy, which must be administered periodically to combat the disease, CAR T-Cell therapy is patient-specific. Led by Dr. Gaurav Narula (58), a paediatric hematologist-oncologist at Tata Hospital, and Dr. Rahul Purwar (46), a faculty member at IIT-Bombay, Powai, the initiative aims to introduce a novel CAR T-Cell therapy capable of prolonged circulation within the body. This innovative approach holds the promise of long-term cancer remission without necessitating a bone marrow transplant.

In this therapy the patient’s blood is used to isolate T-cells (types of immune cells), which are then genetically modified in the lab to create cancer-fighting cells known as CAR-T cells so that they express chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) specific to cancer cells and infused back into the patient. These modified cells are designed to locate and destroy cancer cells in the body.