/ -- Intas Pharmaceuticals Limited, one of India's fastest growing pharmaceutical companies, announces a revolutionary step towards making human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positive (HER2) breast cancer therapy, more accessible to patients through the launch of its trastuzumab biosimilar, Eleftha. Trastuzumab is a targeted therapy, which has been shown to inhibit the growth of human cancer cells that overexpress a type of protein called HER2 and has revolutionized the management of HER 2 positive breast cancer.
The Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of Eleftha will be Rs. 19,995 for the dose strength of 440 mg, which makes it ~65% more economical than the currently available options. Presently, the MRP of most of the trastuzumab brands in India ranges between Rs.58,000 to Rs.63,000 per 440 mg vial. In patients with HER 2 positive early breast cancer, almost 18 cycles of trastuzumab based therapy are required, which presently costs more than 10 lakh rupees in India. However, with this unprecedented step by Intas, the cost of treatment comes down to less than 4 lakh rupees, which will enable many more patients to avail the benefit of trastuzumab. This would be a great relief to the families of patients who are already burdened by the financial distress of cancer treatment.
Breast cancer consumes more lives of Indian women than any other form of cancer. As per published data, almost 25% of Indian patients with breast cancer are HER2 positive. Trastuzumab is used to treat HER 2 positive breast cancer and has been available in India since the year 2000. Before the advent of trastuzumab biosimilars, almost 80% of patients could not afford trastuzumab. However, with the advent of biosimilars, the access to trastuzumab has improved, but still a lot of patients cannot afford this drug.
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