CGI to distribute cancer probes in India

Cancer Genetics Inc (CGI) will market its 'probes' in India through Genetics Specialties Private Limited (GSPL), a Bangalore-headquartered joint venture in which it holds 51 per cent stake, Raju S K Chaganti, chairman of the United States-based cancer test kits maker told reporters here on Wednesday.

In five years, GSPL aims to become a publicly traded medical diagnostics company, offering probes and services in the areas of genetic and infectious diseases, in India and neighbouring countries.

"We want to start slowly, but if we are convinced that these probes can be manufactured here more cost-efficiently, that may also happen," Chaganti said.

Chaganti, chief of genetic services at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, Massachusetts, said, the probes show up changes in the arrangement of genes in sample cells being studied that could indicate the presence of cancer. The technique involved was called fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH).

A FISH probe comprises a mixture of "highly specific DNA" and fluorescent material used to "label genes as they are arranged on chromosomes, two types of which carry the human genetic material."

The fluorescent material pinpoints, for instance, the fusion of two genes, normally not meant to be together, that could trigger cancer.

"While we still don't know what causes the re-arrangements, or the coming together of such genes as BCR and ABL which causes one type of blood cancer, our probes help study the consequences of the rearrangement," Chaganti said. In some cases, they even helped monitor the progress of the disease so a doctor could suitably alter therapy, he said.

Peter Hartmayer, vice president of marketing and sales at CGI said, there was today a worldwide market of about "half a billion dollars" for such probes.

In India, "this technology is catching up quickly... the awareness has greatly increased," Chaganti said. This year, Hartmayer estimated a market of some $1.7 million in India, which would become over $3 million next year.

Ramesh Kumar Shah, a director on the board of Genetic Specialities, said, "We will sell the probe at an average price of Rs 2,500 per test, which will be some 25 per cent cheaper than competition."

Shah, group chairman of the R K Group, Andhra Pradesh-based textile trading and retail business, has put up the remaining 49 per cent of the equity capital of Genetics Specialities.

Cancer probes, in some 150 different combinations sold by various firms including CGI, were mostly available for cancers relating to the blood while reagents for the more common "solid cancers" such as some cereberal tumours were now being developed, Chaganti said.

CGI itself markets 48 genetic probes in 12 countries through tie-ups. The company will also launch probes for cervical cancer and tests for birth defects, Hartmayer said.