AstraZeneca joins hands with RGCI to treat leukaemia patients

Drug firm AstraZeneca India on Tuesday said it has joined hands with Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute (RGCI) for an initiative to help diagnose and treat patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL).

Under the Project Chariot, the partners would roll out the initiative across North India and the Delhi NCR region.

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As part of the programme, the drug maker aims to help identify and support CLL reference laboratories (CRLs) in strategic locations across India and connect peripheral hospitals with them.

CLL is a type of cancer that starts from the very cells that form into white blood cells called lymphocytes. The bone marrow is where this type of blood cancer takes formidable shape. From the bone marrow, these cancerous WBCs flow into the blood.

In India, the average incidence of CLL per year is 6,774 cases.

"Project Chariot aims to bridge the gap of lack of testing centres and work towards identifying and supporting CLL reference laboratories (CRLs) across strategic locations in India and build a framework that can provide better test access to patients.

We are extremely pleased to have found a partner in RGCI, the first such CRL to adopt and implement the initiative in North India," AstraZeneca Vice President (Medical Affairs & Regulatory) Anil Kukreja said.

This association will help identify high-risk CLL patients requiring different treatment approaches as per the latest evidence, thereby improving their clinical outcomes, he added.