(GIST OF SCIENCE REPORTER) QARTEMI: INDIA’S LATEST CAR T-CELL THERAPY FOR BLOOD CANCER

(MARCH-2025)

Recently, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has approved Chimeric Antigen Receptor, or CAR T-cell, named Qartemi by Immuneel Therapeutics, for adult B-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (B-NHL), a common and aggressive type of blood cancer.

In CAR T-cell therapy, T-cells are taken out from a patient’s body through a process called apheresis. It is an innovative form of immunotherapy.
These T-cells are then genetically modified to identify the cancer cells, proliferate more quickly, and remain in the patient’s body for a longer period of time.
Following genetic engineering, during which scientists modify the T-cells by adding a produced CAR (disarmed virus that delivers DNA sequences essential to alter T-cells), the converted T-cells (CAR-T cells) can target a specific protein on the cancer cells.
After enough of the altered T-cells have grown and multiplied in the lab, patients are given an injection of these cells back into their circulation.
As of now, CAR T-cell therapy is approved only for blood cancers in certain cases, but research is underway in several countries to assess them for solid cancers.