Posted on 02/24/2020 7:01:04 PM PST by libh8er
India can help solve the accessibility problem of breakthrough cancer treatment CAR -T Cell therapy, according to American physician scientist Carl June.
CAR-T therapies have been effective against certain types of blood cancer. However, the treatment remained inaccessible to most patients due to its cost.
The CAR-T therapy costs about $1 million - $1.5 million, including administration and hospitalisation costs in US.
Novartis charges Kymriah - its CAR-T therapy about $475,000 for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
ALL is type of childhood blood cancer. Novartis guarantees refund of money if the therapy doesn’t work after one month. It charges $373,000 for adult Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) – another form of blood cancer with no refund.
Gilead has priced Yescarta at $373,000 for NHL, with no refund.
Currently CAR-T cell therapies are not available in India. The prohibitive costs makes it beyond the means of most Indians. A few who can afford, anyways have the capacity to fly to US to get the treatment.
Making the CAR-T accessible
June in a recent interview to Moneycontrol on sidelines of BioAsia-2020 in Hyderabad said, the manufacturing complexity is a major reason for the therapy cost and despite such an expensive price tag he says Novartis doesn't make much profit.
"For normal drugs only about five or 10 percent of the selling cost is manufacturing. For the CAR-T cells one third of the selling price is manufacturing. So they don't make as much profit per patient, adding to that they give it on a guarantee. If it doesn't work, you get the money back. That's called pay for performance. No other time has that ever happened," June said.
June sees the manufacturing costs can probably come down by five to tenfold.
"Right now, the way they manufacture CAR-T cells is what we did in my lab in the 1990s. So it's 20 year old technology. And there was no industry on how to make, you know, robots and so on to do it automated. The most expensive part of CAR-T cells is human labour. It's you have to have trained people. So, if you can have it done automatic, then that would drop the cost dramatically," June said.
India role
June believes India can play a role in making CAR-T accessible and mainstream therapy.
"India is well positioned to (do) that because the country is so good with engineering. It's a natural thing to make better manufacturer," June said.
June also said India has good physicians who can do bone marrow transplants.
"…the people who start doing this will be bone marrow transplant. So they're the ones who take care of leukemia patients," June said.
But June said that the funding eco-system and government support in form of enabling rules and incentives will help the Indian companies to jump into CAR-T therapies.
"..(Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw) has started a company to do CAR-T cell therapy. There are several companies now in India who may look to solving this problem. And it needs to have a combination of some philanthropy, and then, the government has to want it to happen because it's a new industry and they can make rules and incentives," June said.
June points out that China has pumped $50 billion in CAR-T therapies and is home to around 300 clinical trials, while India has none.
Pioneering work
June led the pioneering work at University of Pennsylvania in US to develop the treatment where patient's own T-cell is drawn from the blood, isolated and genetically modified by adding chimeric antigen receptor (CAR).
The modified T-Cell weaponised with CAR, is grown and injected back into the patient. The modified CAR-T cells targets and kills cancer cells.
T-Cell – the important component of immune system acts like police chief in our body that detects intruders like viruses and bacteria, along with cancer cells.
The outcomes of CAR -T Cell therapy were astounding. Children suffering from advanced blood cancer (acute lymphoblastic leukemia or ALL), who were almost on verge of dying, saw their cancers gone.
Around 83 percent of the children with leukemia show complete remission within three months of receiving the treatment.
Swiss drug giant Novartis was quick to see the potential of the new therapy and teamed up with University of Pennsylvania in 2012. The partnership led to the development of tisagenlecleucel sold under brand name Kymriah by Novartis, became the first CAR-T therapy approved by USFDA to treat childhood leukemia and certain types of adult lymphoma in August 2017.
Two months later, the second CAR-T therapy called Yescarta was launched by US drug maker Gilead Sciences for several types of adult Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) – another form of blood cancer.
June said that CAR-T therapy is now explored as first line treatment, even before trying chemotherapy.
Would you stake your LIFE on that research? Would YOU travel to India for treatment if you needed it?
.
.
Trust MY life to a bunch of Indian doctors when I have the entire USA to turn to? NO THANKS.
If YOU would, then you're a better man than I am, Gunga Din.
It started in the US, and is done (as it were) by hand.
India is just trying to bring the costs down.
It has cured stage 4 cancer patients days away from death.
But man can they code!
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I don't believe it.
If it were REALLY true it would be EARTH-SHATTERING news and the entire planet Earth would know about it. Every sick person in the world would be BEATING DOWN THE DOORS to get to India. You don't name any clinics or scientific institutions associated with the government, national or state.
But, the news of the world doesn't mention A SINGLE WORD about these cures of stage 4 cancer.
So, it's all baloney.
India is famous for that. I know; I've been there. I also worked with a TON of Indians when we lived in Saudi Arabia for five YEARS.
Now Lourdes, France, has been a "curing" spot for quite a while.
Google: A total of 67 miraculous healings have been recognised at Lourdes since 1858, when a 14-year-old peasant girl claimed that she had seen the Virgin Mary in a cave. However, there have only been four miracles since 1978, the most recent last year when an Italian woman was said to have been healed of acute rheumatism. Apr 1, 2006
“Would you stake your LIFE on that research? Would YOU travel to India for treatment if you needed it?”
Yes, and yes.
Allow me to rephrase my previous post.
Yes! And HE11 YES!
If someone has that much to spend he's got it made in the shade.
Lol. Then you will deserve all that happens.
I lived and worked in Mexico City for two years. I thought that Mexico was the filthiest place in the world.
Then we lived in the Middle East [K.S.A.] for five YEARS. Then I thought that the Middle East was the filthiest place in the world.
Eventually we traveled to India and stayed there almost a month. Then I thought that India was filthiest place in the world until we visited China. And, mind you, in both India and China we stayed at the BEST places they had.
***When we were in China my husband had to stand in the bathroom while I was taking a shower to keep the ARMIES of cockroaches away from me.
Then, after all our travels we flew home and landed in LAX. When I got off the plane and walked on the linoleum towards the terminal I got down on my HANDS AND KNEES and kissed the linoleum...I was SO glad to be home for good!
I DON'T BELIEVE IN THOSE INDIAN CURES FOR STAGE 4 LUNG CANCER because THERE IS NO CURE FOR STAGE 4 LUNG CANCER.
Stage 4 means that both lungs have been CONSUMED by the cancer. That means NO AIR can get to the lungs/brain. DEATH IS IMINENT. I know what it looks like because my husband died from it. But you would risk you life going to India and being treated for the UNTREATABLE stage 4 cancer. You're a better man than I am, Gunda Din.
One good thing about that: when you kick the bucket over there AND YOU WILL, they cremate bodies. You can then bring home the ashes in a nice, smallish container. EASY-PEASY. No bulky coffin to worry about.
It seems that I (unfortunately) know a lot more about blood cancers & their treatment than you do.
First, “stage 4” cancer does not necessarily involve the lungs. That’s especially the case for blood cancers, where “Stage 4” doesn’t mean the same thing as it does for solid cancers.
You also seem to be completely unaware that “medical tourism” has become big international business. While India, Brazil, Mexico, Malasia, etc. may not relatively backward; their medical tourism facilities are state-of-the-art, and staffed by fully-qualified medical professionals. They have to be, to attract their clientele. The facilities are for the well-heeled foreigner, not the local peasantry.
If my choices were between receiving a treatment in India and not receiving one in N. America (because it’s way too expensive) — then, I’d pick treatment in India (or any other country with advanced medical tourism services) in a heartbeat. The treatment comes with some risks — the non-treatment comes with a certain death sentence. It’s really a no-brainer.
Well, it REALLY is true and it was EARTH-SHATTERING. Just because you missed it doesn't mean it didn't happen :) But cancer is not one disease; it's a family of diseases (hundreds of types and sub types) and there is no one single treatment for all cancers. CAR-T only works for blood cancers and only a specific type (those affecting B cells).
It all began with Emily Whitehead (Google Emily Whitehead).. followed by Doug Olson .
I will try to be clearer.
My husband died of STAGE 4 LUNG CANCER. He had already lost one lung, FROM LUNG CANCER, but when his good lung failed ... his life ended...FROM LUNG CANCER.
Got it now?
Yada yada yada. WHO CARES? I sure don't.
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