‘Magic bullet’ a boon for blood cancer patients

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 22

Popping a pill every day, a patient suffering from chronic myloid leukemia (CML), commonly known as blood cancer, can lead a normal life. This was revealed by experts at the Bhargava auditorium, PGI, where nearly 1,000 patients and their families shared their experiences. World CML Day was being celebrated here today.

Departments of Internal Medicine and Hematology, PGI, along with the Max Foundation organised the function aiming at creating awareness that the disease was curable at an early stage.

Questions related to the disease, medicines, diet, side-effects were answered by a team of experts comprising Professor S Varma, N Varma, Pankaj Malhotra, Dr Alka Dr Shano and Dr Gaurav along with Dr Joseph John from the CMC, Ludhiana.

Interacting with mediapersons, Dr Varma said the cure for this cancer was possible with the help of a medicine called “magic bullet” or Imatinib mesylate. The average life of a patient with this type of cancer was only two to three years before the advent of this medicine, 16 years ago in 1999. That time, however, the patient had to shell out over Rs one lakh per month for the medicine which now costs nearly Rs 3,000.

This cancer is now considered a chronic disease like diabetes and hypertension. Unfortunately, many people, including medicos do not know that it is curable. Nearly 80 per cent of the patients who reach the PGI suffering from the disease do not know that they need only one table every day to lead a normal life, said Professor Pankaj Malhotra.

Since 2001, the PGI, Chandigarh, in association with the Max Foundation is providing this medicine free of cost to patients who cannot meet the expenditure.

Prof Malhotra said that nearly 3,500 such patients were registered at the PGI with the oldest patient being Arun Kumar from Shimla. He has been leading a normal life. Arun Kumar has been under treatment for the past 25 years. Before the advent of this medicine, the medicos were dependent on chemotherapy to treat CML and due to this many other cells in the body were destroyed. With the “magic bullet” only cancer cells are targeted, he added.

Arun who was present on the occasion said that he was 27-year-old when he came to know about the disease and reached the PGI. The doctors started his treatment and today he was a father of two youngsters, he said.