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MGM Medical College in Indore Pioneers CAR T Cell Therapy for Blood Cancer Treatment in India’s Public Healthcare System

NextEdge Admin

03 Nov 2024

3 min 8 sec

In a significant advancement, MGM Medical College in Indore has introduced CAR T cell therapy for blood cancer treatment, making it one of the first government hospitals in India to offer this cutting-edge therapy. This innovative treatment was recently initiated in the Transfusion Medicine Department and Bone Marrow Transplant Unit for a patient with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

Dr. Sanjay Dixit, Dean of MGM Medical College, explained the process: “The procedure involved collecting white blood cells from the patient, modifying them genetically to target cancer cells, and preparing them for reinfusion after 20 days.” CAR T cell therapy reprograms a patient’s T cells to recognize and attack cancer cells, using chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) to identify specific proteins on malignant cells. Once engineered, the CAR T cells are multiplied and reinfused, where they actively seek and destroy cancer cells within the patient’s body.

While CAR T cell therapy has been widely implemented in countries like the USA, Canada, and the UK, India only recently introduced it in 2021 through a collaboration between IIT Mumbai and Tata Memorial Hospital, receiving commercial approval in 2023 from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO). Although it costs approximately ₹4 crores in the United States, the therapy is now available at one-tenth of this cost in Central India, greatly enhancing accessibility.

The treatment process begins with apheresis to separate white blood cells, followed by genetic modification of T cells with viral vectors. These CAR T cells are cultivated and reinfused, requiring a hospital stay of one to two weeks for monitoring. CAR T cell therapy has shown success rates of 30-40% in relapsed cases, providing new hope to patients unresponsive to other treatments.

“This pioneering initiative at MY Hospital marks a transformative step in blood cancer care, making advanced therapies accessible to more patients in Central India,” noted Dr. Ashok Yadav, Superintendent and HOD of Transfusion Medicine.