Pharma major Roche on Thursday announced the launch of the immunotherapy drug Tecentriq that can, for the first time, be administered subcutaneously, reducing drug delivery time to seven minutes compared to conventional intravenous infusions, which take at least a couple of hours.
“By reducing treatment administration time to approximately seven minutes, Tecentriq SC is a breakthrough innovation that has the potential to dramatically improve the cancer treatment experience of patients — reducing treatment time by 80%,” Roche India said in a statement.
Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers in India, with about 80,000 cases diagnosed annually.
Doctors say immunotherapy has been a game changer in cancer treatment, and a drug that can be delivered subcutaneously makes treatment more comfortable for cancer patients.
“We have been using the drug in our hospital for some time. It has proved to be a great mental relief for patients. Also, cancer patients can be so frail at times that finding a vein can be a task. Subcutaneous delivery reduces pain, which is important in cancer patients,” director and head of medical oncology at Medanta Noida and Defence Colony Dr Sajjan Rajpurohit said.
As a result, compliance is also better, doctors said.
“We have noticed that because of the easy delivery mechanism, patient compliance also improves. You don’t need a complicated set-up; a trained nurse in a facility closer to home can deliver the drug. This innovation is quite beneficial,” head of the medical oncology department at Manipal Hospital in Bangalore, Dr Amit Rauthan, said.
In western markets, the subcutaneous version has already been available for the past few months.
The comfort, however, comes at a premium, as the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of a single vial is around ₹3.7 lakh and a patient, on average, may require about six cycles.
“It could be less also because treatment duration depends on a host of factors that include stage of diagnosis, patient response etc, which may reduce the drug requirement and therefore reduce the overall cost,” said Dr Rajpurohit.
The company, however, said it has patient support programmes that can bring down the cost significantly.
“We have the Blue Tree programme that supports the cost of treatment, and we hear that in CGHS (Central Government Health Scheme) also the subcutaneous version is being added, so it will bring down the overall cost significantly. Equated Monthly Instalment (EMI) support is also being offered to patients,” chief communications officer at Roche, Rajan S, said.
According to doctors, nearly 15% of their patients can afford treatment without support, and with support, the patient volume goes up to about 40%.
In addition, not all lung cancer patients are eligible for treatment; about 50% of diagnosed patients could be fit for the therapy.
“Those with the PD-L1 marker have shown good results and are ideal candidates for the therapy. The price will eventually come down in the long run, as we have seen with other drugs when demand increases,” Dr Rauthan added.
