NEW DELHI, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Indian President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday officially launched the country's first home-grown gene therapy for cancer at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay in the country's financial capital Mumbai.

Named "NexCAR19," the new cancer therapy was approved by India's Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) in October last year.

CDSCO's approval was based on the results of two small clinical trials conducted in India involving 64 people with advanced lymphoma or leukemia.

According to trial results presented in December 2023 at the American Society of Hematology meeting, 67 percent of patients in the two trials had a "notable decrease" in the extent of their cancer.

Hailing "NexCAR19," Murmu said that India's first gene therapy is a "major breakthrough in our battle against cancer," as it costs nearly one-tenth of the price at which it is available in developed nations like the United States.

The therapy was jointly developed by IIT Bombay and the Tata Memorial Hospital in association with industry partner ImmunoACT.