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The first commercial patient who underwent CAR T Cell Therapy was declared cancer-free.

India’s CAR T Cell Therapy NexCAR19

• The Drugs Controller General of India approved the ‘Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy’ called NexCAR19 in October 2023.
• NexCAR19 is available in over 30 hospitals in more than 10 cities in India. 
• Patients over the age of 15 years who suffer from B-cell cancers are eligible for this one-time therapy at these centers.

What Is CAR T Cell Therapy?

• NexCAR19, the indigenously developed therapy, treats B-cell cancers (types of cancers that form in the immune system’s cells) such as leukemia and lymphoma. 
• It has been developed collaboratively by ImmunoACT, a company incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB), IIT-B and Tata Memorial Hospital.
• CAR T Cell is a novel and highly complex immune therapy that redirects the body’s immune system to fight cancer. 
• CAR-T cells are often described as ‘the living drug’ because they actively search and target malignant cells.
• Principle: It uses a type of immune cell called a T-cell, which is extracted from a patient’s blood before being genetically altered to allow it to target surface proteins found on cancer cells.
• Mechanism: The patient’s T-cells (types of immune cells) are collected and genetically modified into potent cancer fighters known as CAR-T cells. 
• The genetically modified cells express chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) specific to cancer cells. 
• The modified CAR-T cells are then expanded in the laboratory before being infused into the patient. 
• Once in the body, these engineered cells recognise and attack cancer cells, with a focus on B-cell cancers, thus offering a targeted and potent immunotherapy.

Why is CAR T Cell Therapy Effective?

• Improves immunogenic memory, which provides continuous surveillance to treat local and distant metastatic lesions.
• Recognises and eliminates damaged cells and cells infected with harmful pathogens, such as viruses and cancerous cells.
• Reduces the need for aggressive chemotherapy and Bone transplantation.
• Affordability: Indigenous CAR T Cell Therapy brings treatment costs down from Rs 4 crore to Rs 40 lakh.
• Success Rate: In studies, 9 out of 10 people with acute lymphoblastic leukemia whose cancer didn’t respond to other treatments or whose cancer came back had complete remission with CAR T Cell Therapy.
  • Remission means the cancer can’t be detected in tests.

News Source: Indian Express