Collaborates with Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute launch
AstraZeneca India announced the launch of the initiative ‘Project Chariot’ to help diagnose and treat patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) in India, forms the first strategic partnership with Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute (RGCI) to help roll out the programme across North India and Delhi NCR region.
Through this initiative, AstraZeneca aims to help identify and support CLL reference laboratories (CRLs) in strategic locations across India and connect peripheral hospitals with their closest CRL so that patients combatting the disease can avail themselves the necessary FISH (Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization) panel and IgHV test, and expand the test access to CLL patients throughout the country.
Commenting on the occasion, Dr Anil Kukreja, VP Medical Affairs & Regulatory, AstraZeneca, said, “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 Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute, the first such CRL to adopt and implement the initiative in North India. This association will help identify high-risk CLL patients requiring different treatment approaches as per the latest evidence, thereby improving their clinical outcomes. This initiative is aligned with AstraZeneca’s core value of keeping patients at the centre of everything that we do.”
Dr Col. (Retired) Anurag Mehta – Director – Department of Laboratory & Transfusion Services and Director Research, RGCI), said, “Due to the current gap in the ecosystem, with limited testing centres that can perform the IgHV hypermutation test and the FISH Panel test, HR CLL patients are not being diagnosed and receiving the required medication. Our collaboration with AstraZeneca for Project Chariot is a step towards this direction to provide the latest diagnostics tests for identification of HR CLL patients across north India and improve their treatment outcome.”
Project Chariot does not aim to redefine the current CLL treatment protocol but to help identify HR CLL patients by providing better and more comprehensive test access to these patients and consequently improving their treatment outcomes.
