“Conventional IV administration is often long and arduous, placing immense pressure on tertiary care hospitals.” That is how Dr. Sajjan Rajpurohit, director and head of medical oncology at Medanta, described the problem Roche says it has now eased for lung cancer patients in India.
Roche Pharma India announced on May 14 that it had launched Tecentriq SC (atezolizumab), which it called the country’s first subcutaneous, or under-the-skin, immunotherapy for lung cancer. Giving it takes about seven minutes. An intravenous infusion takes several hours.
The Drugs Controller General of India cleared the drug around two months earlier for adjuvant and metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. It is now on sale across the country, and more than 100 patients are already on the immunotherapy, the company said.
Who is waiting in those corridors
About 80,000 people in India are diagnosed with lung cancer each year. Between 40 and 50 percent of them are diagnosed at an advanced stage, and 30 percent depend on government institutions for their care.
Rajpurohit said repeated hospital visits and long treatment hours add an emotional and physical burden on top of the illness itself. A seven-minute injection, he added, lets patients be treated far more quickly and easily.
Roche puts the cut in administration time at roughly 80 percent. It says that also shortens the wait in hospital corridors and the need for long stays by patients who travel to bigger cities for treatment. Dr. Amit Rauthan of Manipal Hospital in Bengaluru said such innovations are essential to rethinking how cancer care is delivered in India, particularly for people coming from smaller towns to metro centres.
Rajwinder Mehdwan, managing director and chief executive of Roche Pharma India, said in the company statement that the launch reflects a commitment to solutions that are faster, more convenient and support patient-centric outcomes.
Price and what patients said
The maximum retail price is ₹3.7 lakh per unit. A standard course typically needs six units, though that depends on the patient.
The intravenous version lists for ₹25,000 to 30,000 less. But the IV route often brings extra hospital charges, which can nearly close the gap, and the total varies from place to place.
Roche said the sticker price is not the whole story. “While the MRP is one thing, how the patient support programme reaches each patient based on what they need for their specific situation is the most important final impact,” the company said.
Global clinical data cited by the company shows four out of five patients preferred the subcutaneous route to IV, citing comfort and lower emotional distress. Some 90 percent of healthcare professionals agreed it was easy to administer, and about 75 percent of medical staff thought it could save their teams significant time. Roche argues that would let the system treat more patients and move care toward daycare centres.
Rajpurohit also spoke about what the drug can do for people who respond well. They may eventually pause or stop the medication and remain stable as the immune system keeps fighting the cancer. “In stage four… where lung cancer without treatment has a six-month survival median, with this, there are people who can spend five or even 10 years.”
The drug has been approved in 85 countries, including the US, the UK and EU members, and has reached more than 10,000 patients worldwide, according to Roche.
Sources
- How Roche Reduced Lung Cancer Treatment Time to 7 Minutes in India
- Roche launches Tecentriq SC in India: How the '7-minute lung cancer injection' works, treatment cost – all you need to know- Moneycontrol.com
- Roche launches India's first 7-minute under-the-skin lung cancer injection | Today News
