Delhi man ‘free of cancer cells’ after undergoing CAR-T cell therapy treatment? All you need to know [Video]

A 64-year-old man has become the first patient to be cured using India’s own CAR-T cell therapy, months after the indigenous cancer treatment received approval for commercial use by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO). The pioneering treatment genetically reprogrammes a person’s immune system to fight cancer.

Dr (Col) VK Gupta, a Delhi-based gastroenterologist, underwent the treatment at the Tata Memorial Hospital and has been declared “free of cancer cells,” The Indian Express reported.

Dr Gupta, who had earlier gone through a failed bone marrow transplant in 2022, paid ₹42 lakhs for the treatment, which otherwise would have cost him somewhere around ₹4 crore outside the country.

Dr Hasmukh Jain, a hemato-oncologist and associate professor at the Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC), Tata Memorial Centre, said, “While it’s premature to claim a lifelong cure, the patient is currently free of cancer cells.”

What is CAR-T cell therapy?

The Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy,which is a complex and …