Mahidol University has introduced Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) modified T-cell therapy to treat B-cell leukaemia, making Thailand the first in the Asean to adopt this cutting-edge technique.
Dr Banjong Mahaisawariya, president of Mahidol University, said the university's ability to roll out a therapy currently used in the treatment of certain blood cancers was the result of a policy to promote integration between departments.
CAR therapy is among the few available options for sufferers of B-cell leukaemia which is often more resistant to chemotherapy than other forms of cancer. It is hoped that domestic development will exponentially ease the financial burden of treatment as it is expensive to import from overseas, he said.
"This success will be key to the future of Thai medicine," said Dr Banjong.
Dr Piyamitr Sritara, dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, said the faculty had worked with other institutes, state agencies and the private sector to trial CAR-T cell research and production in accordance with European Medicines Agency standards.
"Their work is now being reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ahead of an application for international certification," he said.
The project is supported by the Institute for Technology and Innovation Management, the National Science and Technology Development Agency, the Health Systems Research Institute, the Program Management Unit Competitiveness, the Office of National Higher Education Science Research and Innovation Policy Council and Rama Foundation and Genepeutic Bio Co Ltd.
Dr Suradej Hongeng, a paediatrics lecturer at the hospital, said research into the treatment began in 2014 when it was also first tested on 10 B-cell leukaemia patients with positive results.
Regarding production, researchers would collect the white blood cells of patients or their relatives to culture and genetically modify it in the lab about two to three weeks ahead of being offered to patients.
In some cases, abnormalities in white blood cells disappear from blood and bone marrow in two to four weeks, he said.
"CAR–T cell therapy can be produced locally which will enable many Thais to access it," he said.