India's First Home-Grown Gene Therapy (NexCAR19) for Cancer

The President of India launched India’s first indigenously developed gene therapy, CAR-T cell therapy (NexCAR19) for cancer treatment.

Key Highlights

(i) NexCAR19 is an indigenously developed gene therapy for B-cell cancers (types of cancers that form in the immune system’s cells) such as leukemia and lymphoma. 

(ii) It is a type of cancer immunotherapy that uses the patient’s T cells, modified in a lab to enhance their ability to recognise and react against the cancer. 

(iii) Developed by: ImmunoACT, a company incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB), and Tata Memorial Hospital.

About CAR-T Cell Therapy

T-cells are the cells of the immune system that fight infections and can kill cancer. But sometimes cancers can evade the T cells and there comes the use of “CAR-T cell therapy” or Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. 

These modified T cells, also called CAR-T cells are then reinfused back into the patients. Now, these cells can better recognise cancer and can attack it.