The Hindu Business Line : Venus Remedies launching drug to detect cancer thru x-ray

New Delhi, July 3 The trauma that suspected cancer patients are subjected to while waiting for biopsy test results could now be eased. A new diagnostic technology promises to make the detection of cancer a far less stressful procedure. The Chandigarh-based Venus Remedies has filed for patent of an injectable that will allow for cancer to be detected through an x-ray.

“The drug works like a magnet attaching itself to malignant cells, thereby enhancing many times the image of the growth in an x-ray or scan,” explains Mr Pawan Chaudhary, Managing Director, Venus Remedies.

The company is excited about the merits of the technology acquired through an in-licence agreement with the University of Illinois, Chicago. “An x-ray is a lot more affordable and common than the scans used in the treatment of cancer,” added the company spokesperson. With marketing right for 11 countries, including India and countries of West Asia, Venus Remedies hopes to launch the drug by June-July 2008. The patent application for the revolutionary Imaging Technology Product for Cancer Detection is the sixth from the company that would like to be identified as an R&D strong business.

However, experts warn that the technology is not likely to do away with biopsies all together. The nature of the cancer must be detected before treatment can start. “I, for example had Hodgkin’s lymphoma. It wasn’t just enough to have the malignancy confirmed. The pathologist had to find a Reed-Sternberg cell, that characterises the disease before my treatment could start,” says Ms Harmala Gupta, President, CanSupport an organisation dedicated to providing people with advanced cancer and their families, with informed choices and support.

Dr Amit Bhargava, Consultant Medical Oncologist, Max Healthcare, is not over-enthused about detecting prowess of the technology. What oncologists are likely to be more excited about however, he says, are the benefits that such a technology could bring in checking the efficacy of chemotherapy and other cancer treatments.

Affordability

Currently CT- PET Scan cost between Rs 7,000 and Rs 10,000 (for a full body scan) at Government Hospitals, and between Rs 18,000 and Rs 25,000 at private hospitals. But at a cost of Rs 17-20 crore per machine, these scans are certainly not easy to come by. An x-ray based technology could partly tackle the problem of availability of such high end equipments in smaller towns and cities.

Affordability will not counter the fear of being detected positive, says Ms Gupta. “There is no tradition for regular check up, and people even avoid free check ups, because once your told you have cancer most people see it as the end of the road.”

A technology like this, which gives the malignancy verdict more immediately, has to go hand in hand with patient care and sensitive communication. A good part of the trauma in finding out that you have cancer comes from the brusque manner in which the hospital often communicates the news.

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