NexCAR19, India's first humanised CAR-T therapy, makes gene treatments affordable for cancer patients while maintaining scientific quality and patient safety standards.
India's Cancer
Breakthrough: How NexCAR19 Makes Gene Therapy Affordable
World's first
humanised CAR-T therapy developed entirely in India
Treats relapsed
B-cell lymphomas and acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Developed by
ImmunoACT with IIT Bombay and DBT support
New GMP facility to
treat 1000+ patients annually
NexCAR19, the world's
first humanised CAR-T therapy developed in India, has made gene therapies
affordable and accessible while also maintaining scientific quality and patient
safety, said the Ministry of Science and Technology on Wednesday.
"NexCAR19,
India's first living drug, has made gene therapies both affordable and
accessible without compromising scientific rigour or patient safety - Ministry
of Science and Technology"
NexCAR19 is a
prescription drug for treating specific relapsed or refractory B-cell
Non-Hodgkin's Lymphomas and B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia when frontline
therapy or other standard treatments have been unsuccessful. It was developed
using a lentiviral vector.
"NexCAR19,
India's first living drug, has made gene therapies both affordable and
accessible without compromising scientific rigour or patient safety," the
Ministry said.
NexCAR19, developed
by ImmunoACT -- a gene therapy company incubated at IIT Bombay -- and supported
by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and Biotechnology Industry Research
Assistance Council (BIRAC), was among the three path-breaking innovations
gifted to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the ongoing ESTIC2025
conclave in the national capital.
The other two include
QSIP: India's own quantum security chip; and 25-qubit QPU: India's first
quantum computing chip, powering the future of computation.
CAR-T, or the
Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell, has emerged as a breakthrough in cancer
treatment. Clinical trials conducted globally have shown promising results in
end-stage patients, especially in patients suffering from Acute Lymphocytic
Leukaemia.
Recently, DBT via the
Biomanufacturing initiative under the BioE3 Policy gave funding to ImmunoAct
for setting up a 200L GMP lentiviral vector and plasmid platforms to scale up
the production and also to make this new therapeutic modality more affordable.
"This platform
will likely incorporate advanced bioreactor technologies to facilitate
high-density cell growth and continuous production and enable higher yields and
better performance of lentiviral vectors. The GMP-grade gene delivery vector
can help at least 1000 patients per year for cell and gene therapy," the
Ministry said.
Amid rising cancer
cases in the country, the DBT is also promoting early and late translational
research to develop novel and indigenous CAR-T-based therapeutics to combat the
deadly disease.
DBT is supporting
interdisciplinary teams to venture into immunotherapeutic solutions for a
broader spectrum of cancers, including both liquid and solid cancers, and also
ways to overcome the associated toxicities, the Ministry added.
This includes cancers
like Multiple Myeloma (MM), Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia, refractory or relapsed
B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, glioblastoma, etc.
India's First CAR-T
Therapy NexCAR19 Launched by Modi
India has achieved a major medical
breakthrough with the development of NexCAR19, the country's first humanised
CAR-T therapy. This innovative treatment makes gene therapies affordable and
accessible for cancer patients without compromising on safety standards.
Developed by ImmunoACT with support from IIT Bombay and government agencies, it
specifically targets relapsed B-cell cancers. The therapy was officially
launched by Prime Minister Modi at the ESTIC2025 conclave alongside other
technological innovations.
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