Dr (Col) V K Gupta, 64 years, is the patient who got cured

It helps patient’s immune system to help fight cancer

CDSCO okayed the usage of CAR-T cell therapy last October

Dr (Col) V K Gupta, 64 years, becomes India’s first patient to be free of cancer cells. This was achieved using CAR-T cell therapy.

It might be recalled that the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), okayed the usage of CAR-T cell therapy last October.

So how does this work?

Well, this is a treatment plan in which doctors work on a patient’s immune system to help fight cancer. This can be used to treat leukaemia and lymphoma.

As per reports NexCAR19, the indigenous CAR-T cell therapy was developed by ImmunoACT.

The patient in question paid Rs 42 lakh to access the therapy. It is interesting to know that the same treatment costs approximately Rs 3-4 crore abroad.

Another publication quoted Dr Hasmukh Jain, hemato-oncologist and associate professor at the Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC) saying that to elevate it to a lifelong cure would be very much premature, but as of now, the patient is free of cancer.

However, as far as relapse rate for the treated cancer is concerned, the doctor says more data is required to throw more light on the issue.

Getting back to the issue of treatment, it involves taking T cells (immune system cell) from the patient’s blood and are changed in the laboratory so that they attack cancer cells.