4baseCare launches India's first population-specific tumour gene panel

Bengaluru: Bengaluru-based precision oncology company, 4baseCare has launched its new product TARGT Indiegene to provide India-specific cancer-targeted treatments.

Noticing that the Indian genome is unique in comparison to the global genome, the company worked towards building a first of its kind India-specific tumour gene panel using data from 1,500 cancer patients across 28 different cancer types.

"As per a report published in India, there was a vast difference between genomes within India itself. The ancestral North Indians had similarities with the European, Mediterranean, South-East Asian while the ancestral south Indian genome was unique presenting no similarities.

The population specific-cancer gene panel will allow us to utilise India-specific treatments," said Dr Vidya H Veldore, Clinical Director at 4baseCare.

Most of the cancer panels currently available in the market are based on data from the Caucasian population, and the same panel is used for testing across all the geographies. The research led to the discovery of information around 1044 unique genes and 28 cancer types. As genomes vary geographically, the effect of the treatment can also vary demographically.

Commenting on the occasion, Hitesh Goswami, CEO, 4baseCare, said, "Our vision is to leverage technology to develop affordable solutions to personalise patient care in oncology. With TarGT Indiegene, we want to deliver the promise of precision to help personalise the treatment for Indian cancer patients."

Using the precision oncology treatment that helps patients avoid side-effects of chemotherapy, and 4baseCare's TARGT Indiegene will allow doctors to treat Indian patients with fewer side-effects and higher success rates.

Dr Kumar Prabhash, Professor and Medical Oncologist at TMH, Mumbai, and one of the collaborators for the project said that with such massive research on Indian patient cohort and "the availability of TARGT Indiegene kind of a cancer gene panel validated on Indian patient tumour samples, the oncologists will have better decision making capability lead by science towards precision oncology solutions that will improve the affordability and timely availability of accurate gene-testing reports for cancer patients."