Dabur OncQuest, leader in the Indian oncology medical testing market and a wholly owned subsidiary of Dabur Pharma Ltd, as part of its new socio-economic project will offer cancer tests at affordable charges to 300 patients.

According to the company, the project aims to offer cost-effective monitoring of therapy for select chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) patients. As per the project the company will perform the BCR/abl translocation Quantitative tests by Q PCR technique. A third party administrator will identify the patients through the referring clinicians.

In a telephonic conversation with Pharmabiz, Vivek Trikha, head, Dabur Diagnostics, said, "In the present scenario a patient needs to undergo a test available at varying costs of Rs 6000, Rs 3500 or Rs 2000 depending on the prescribed technology and these tests have to be done in four regular intervals. Under the new project, tests will be available to the patients at half of the actual cost that means Rs 6000 per test will cost 12,000 instead of 24,000 for four tests. More over, Dabur OncQuest will provide free pick and drop facility to its clinics across its 42 centre all over the country".

Commenting on the project Aditya Burman, general manager, Dabur Pharma, said, "OncQuest has always concentrated on providing the latest and most pioneering technologies for oncology testing in India. We have hitherto set benchmarks for Cancer diagnostics using our unique technologies. We are delighted to extend our services for the first time to reach our end-users, benefiting them with our advanced economical packages, filling a gap in diagnosis & prognosis of CML worldwide. With this, OncQuest lives up to its mission of introducing scientifically advanced cost effective molecular diagnostic algorithm."

CML Quest (MRD) test is a test indicated to measure the drug response in chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML). The test is an accurate indicator of how the patient is responding to the treatment and indicates the future course of treatment modalities. Trikha stated that the project would take two years, as the tests need to be conducted in each six months. The company would come with various new projects depending on the success of the current project, he added.