- The Foreign Secretary is leading a mission of scientists from the IPN and the National Institute of Nutrition to India
- Cellular therapy clinical trials will begin in Mexico this year. This is one of the most innovative and effective cancer treatments.
- Amexcid will provide resources for the pilot studies.
Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard announced that a new cancer cell therapy from India that is potentially more effective than current treatments will be brought to Mexico.
The Foreign Secretary led a delegation of Mexican scientists and diplomats on a visit to ImmunoACT, an Indian company based in Mumbai. ImmunoACT developed the so-called CAR T-cell therapy, a customized therapy that modifies and uses the patients’ own cells to fight cancer.
The Foreign Secretary said that this therapy costs half a million dollars today in the United States. “We are going to…make it accessible for people, that is, we will have it in the public system and Mexicans will have access to that technology. That’s our task; that’s what the president asked us to look for, this particular technology; and the Indian and Iraqi governments and ImmunoACT are helping us to do that.”
This type of cell therapy has been proven to be safe and effective, and has regulatory approval in the United States, as well as in several European countries.
Secretary Ebrard said that, with this treatment, “We will be able to save the lives of thousands of people who have leukemia and whose lives we cannot save at this time.”
Today’s visit follows up on an agreement signed on November 8, 2022 between the Salvador Zubirán National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition (INCMNSZ), the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) and ImmunoACT for technology transfer to Mexico of CAR T-cell cancer therapies. The visit kicks off a technology transfer plan so that the therapy can provide short- and medium-term benefits for Mexican patients.
The first clinical trials of CAR T-cell therapies will be carried out with Mexican patients with financing from Amexcid and, after complying with the regulatory process, the therapy will be available in the course of this year.
The process of bringing this therapy to Mexico has been accompanied by the country’s health and regulatory authorities, with face-to-face and virtual meetings between Amexcid, the scientists and the Federal Commission for Protection against Health Risks (Cofepris).
Originally published at https://www.gob.mx/sre/en/articulos/foreign-secretary-ebrard-announces-the-arrival-in-mexico-of-a-new-cancer-treatment-328317?idiom=en