Indian pharma industry and corporate hospitals are now working to maximize their presence in oncology by providing the latest drugs and technology to control the dreaded condition.

In the last fortnight alone, two leading corporate hospitals in the country based on Bengaluru-- Healthcare Global Enterprises Limited (HCG) and BGS Global-- have stormed into this sector to offer the latest radiation therapy technology: TrueBeam. Mazumdar-Shaw Centre for Advanced Therapeutics (MS-CAT), Bengaluru, collaborated with Strand Life Sciences for research on tongue cancer in the area of onco genomics in association with GANIT Labs, which developed a fully sequenced the genome of a tongue cancer patient.

According to Technopak Advisors report on Oncology Outlook, The current focus in development of cancer therapies is on targeted drug delivery to provide therapeutic concentrations of anticancer agents at the site of action and spare the normal tissues.

Globally, early this year, Galena Biopharma Inc initiated targeted oncology treatments, with a phase III trial for NeuVax vaccine in for breast cancer patients. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has granted Orphan Drug Designation to Ceptaris Therapeutics Inc’s investigational drug, chlormethine gel, for Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma (CTCL).

Focus areas in cancer drug development are in colorectal cancer, breast and ovarian cancer for international pharma companies. Roche, sanofi-aventis, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Novartis, Schering Plough and Eli Lily which are offering MabThera, Avastin, Herceptin, Pegasys and Tarceva have novel drugs for various indications. In India, Eli Lily and Merck offer Alimta, for malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), and Erbitux, from Merck Specialties for locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

In the national pharma space, companies like Sun Pharma, Nicholas Piramal, Natco, Unimark Remedies, IPCA Laboratories, AstraZeneca, Dr Reddy’s, Biocon and Strides Arcolab among others are looking to strengthen the oncology drug portfolio. Of these, three Karnataka companies: Biocon, Strides Arcolab and Raichur-based Shilpa Medicare have been identified oncology formulations as their future growth paths.

Biocon has been engaged in research and development of a cancer vaccine in collaboration with Vaccinex among other drugs. For Strides its wholly owned subsidiary Onco Therapies Limited (OTL), a division of Agila received European approval for its oral dosage oncology in Bangalore during July 2011.

The government of India too has committed Rs.2,500 crore under the 11th five year plan for the National Cancer Control Programme(NCCP) and will focus on tobacco control, palliative care and human resource development.

Dr K Ravindranath, chairman and managing director, Global Hospitals Group said that there is need to offer advanced healthcare services to fight cancer and we have now a dedicated and advanced radiation therapy technology known TrueBeamSTx which is the first of its kind in Asia Pacific.

HCG has 22 centres as part of its network which defines the future of cancer care in India. “We have played a vital role in redefining cancer treatment in India, through expertise and technology. Early this month, we introduced TrueBeam in Ahmedabad and PreScision Artiste in Bengaluru,” stated Dr BS Ajai Kumar, chairman and founder HCG.