India Has Its FIRST Cancer-Free Patient; CAR-T Cell Therapy to Cost THIS much in India

The first-ever successful use of CAR-T cell therapy, a novel cancer treatment, was in an Indian patient. This treatment modifies the patient’s immune system to combat cancer, and it has been licenced for use by India’s drug authorities. This procedure, which would have cost Dr. (Col) VK Gupta Rs 3–4 crore outside the country, cost Rs 42 lakhs in India, as reported by The Indian Express.

The treatment, which was developed by ImmunoAct, IIT Bombay, and Tata Memorial Hospital, has been given to fifteen Indian patients. Among them, three have effectively attained cancer remission. Gupta is at present free of cancer cells, according to medical professionals at the Tata Memorial Hospital, where he had the surgery. Just a year ago, Gupta could only dream of reaching this status; he is the first commercial patient to have reached it.

In a process called CAR-T cell therapy, a patient’s own immune cells (T cells) are altered in a lab to detect and attack cancer cells. The patient’s body then receives the modified cells back to fight the malignancy.

Know More About CAR-T Cell Therapy:

Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, often known as CAR-T cell therapy, is a novel immunotherapy used to treat specific cancers. Using the patient’s own immune system, this therapy aims to find and eliminate cancer cells.

This is how it operates:

1. Collection:Firstly, leukapheresis is used to separate T cells, which are immunological cells, from the patient’s blood.
2. Modification:The gathered T cells are genetically altered in a lab environment to express chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) on their surface. These CARs are designed to identify particular proteins, also known as antigens, that are present on the outside of cancerous cells.
3. Expansion:In a laboratory setting, the collected T cells undergo genetic modification to produce chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) on their surface. These CARs are engineered to recognise specific proteins, or antigens, that are external to malignant cells.
4. Infusion:The patient is given another injection of CAR-T cells into their circulation once a sufficient quantity has been generated.
5. Targeting Cancer Cells:The patient’s body circulates the infused CAR-T cells, which look for cancer cells expressing the specific antigen. The CARs on the surface of cancer cells bind to the antigen on the cancer cell, causing the CAR-T cells to attack and kill the cancer cells.
6. Persistence and Memory:Following treatment, some CAR-T cells may remain in the body and provide long-term cancer recurrence surveillance. CAR-T cells can also form memories, which enables them to respond quickly in the event that cancer cells resurface.

Particular varieties of leukaemia and lymphoma, as well as other blood malignancies, have responded remarkably well to CAR-T cell therapy, even in individuals who had not responded to previous treatments. But it can also result in serious side effects that need to be closely watched for and managed, like neurotoxicity and cytokine release syndrome. Research is still being done to increase the safety and efficacy of CAR-T cell therapy and to extend its use to other cancer types.