Command Hospital Kolkata Administers India’s Indigenous CAR-T Therapy to Serving Soldier
Command Hospital (Eastern Command) in Kolkata has administered India’s indigenous CAR-T cell therapy, NexCAR19, to a 39-year-old serving soldier suffering from relapsed/refractory B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (B-cell ALL), in what Eastern Command has described as a landmark development for military healthcare.
The treatment reflects the Indian Armed Forces’ growing use of advanced medical technology for complex blood cancers and adds a new capability to the military healthcare system for serving personnel who have exhausted conventional treatment options.
NexCAR19 is described as India’s first indigenous CAR-T cell therapy. Developed through a collaboration between IIT Bombay, Tata Memorial Centre and biotechnology start-up ImmunoACT, it has been positioned as a more affordable and accessible form of immunotherapy for blood cancers, including leukaemia and lymphoma.
CAR-T cell therapy works by collecting a patient’s own T-cells, genetically modifying them with Chimeric Antigen Receptors, and then reinfusing the engineered cells back into the patient. Once inside the body, these modified cells are designed to recognise cancer cells carrying the CD19 protein and attack them.
In the case of NexCAR19, the product uses a humanised configuration rather than murine, or mouse-derived, components. According to the information provided, this lowers the risk of severe neurological side effects, making it a significant option in the treatment of difficult blood cancers.
Relapsed or refractory B-cell ALL is among the conditions for which CAR-T therapy is considered particularly important, especially when standard treatment approaches have failed. The successful administration of NexCAR19 at Command Hospital Kolkata therefore represents a notable expansion of advanced cancer treatment within the Armed Forces medical network.
Another feature of the therapy is its relative affordability. NexCAR19 is described as one of the less expensive CAR-T therapies available globally, with its cost reported to be around one-tenth of comparable treatments in Western countries. Command Hospitals across India are among the institutions authorised to deliver the therapy.
Eastern Command described the treatment of the serving soldier as a “landmark achievement”, saying it reflected clinical excellence, innovation and a commitment to delivering cutting-edge, patient-centric healthcare to the Indian Armed Forces.
The development also highlights the Army’s medical establishment’s efforts to bring advanced medical technologies to serving personnel and their dependants, including therapies that were previously available only in a limited number of specialised centres.
The Kolkata case follows another notable CAR-T milestone within the military healthcare system. In September, Command Hospital (Western Command), Chandimandir, administered its first CAR-T cell therapy to a 16-year-old patient suffering from B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia.
Together, these cases point to the increasing availability of advanced cancer treatment within the Armed Forces healthcare network and the operationalisation of an indigenous medical technology for patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell ALL.
