CAR-T Therapy From IIT Bombay Recognized Among Top 3 National Innovations
PM Narendra Modi has gifted CAR T-Cell Therapy developed by IIT Bombay, one of the top 3 national innovations, to India, during the ongoing emergency science, technology, and innovation conclave ESTIC2025 in Delhi. India’s first indigenous Cancer cell therapy has been developed by Indian innovators and supported by DBT and BIRAC.
PM Modi was presented with the NexCAR19, India’s first indigenous CAR-T cell therapy, developed by ImmunoAct. Through NexCAR19 gene therapy, almost 500 patients have been treated successfully.
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.
DBT, via the Biomanufacturing initiative under the BioE3 Policy, gave funding to IIT Bombay startup 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.
DBT also promotes early and late translational research to develop novel & indigenous CAR-T-based therapeutics to combat various cancers by 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. This includes Cancers like Multiple myeloma (MM), Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia, refractory or relapsed B cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, glioblastoma etc. Prof. Rahul Purwar, Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, IIT Bombay and Co-Founder of ImmunoACT was present during the function.
