Cell-therapy treatment for cancer in India may come at 10% of US cost

Pharma companies and start-ups working to launch it within two years

Indian pharmaceutical companies and start-ups may soon offer cell therapy-based treatment for cancers at nearly one tenth of the cost in the US.

Immuneel Therapeutics, backed by Biocon Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and US oncologist Siddhartha Mukherjee; Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and Chinese firm Shenzhen Pregene Biopharma; and ImmunoACT, an IIT-Bombay spin-off, are among firms working to bring CAR T-cell therapy for cancers, especially blood cancers, to India within the next two years.

Treating leukaemia, a cancer of the blood cells, with CAR T-cell therapy costs $800,000-900,000 (about Rs 6-7 crore) in the US.

CAR T-cells, or chimeric antigen receptor T-cells, are