President Droupadi Murmu speaks at IIT Bombay at the launch ceremony of India's first gene therapy for cancer.
The president said, "As this line of treatment, named "CAR-T cell therapy', is accessible and affordable, it provides a new hope for the whole of humankind. I am sure it will be successful in giving new lives to countless patients."
CAR-T cell therapy or chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy is a form of immunotherapy and gene therapy. It requires complex genetic engineering to modify the patient immune cells, especially T cells, and make them fight cancer. India's first CAR-T cell therapy is developed through collaboration between the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and Tata Memorial Hospital in association with industry partner ImmunoACT.
"I am told that ImmunoACT is a start-up of two students, Alka Dwivedi and Atharva Karulkar, and Professor Rahul Purwar of IIT Bombay. Their vision and the hard work they put in to actualise that vision are commendable," the president said lauding the achievement.