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NORTH AMERICAN Newsline MAY 24, 2024 | The Indian Eye 18

Four Indian Americans

find place in the inaugural

‘TIME100 Health’ list

OUR BUREAU looking for ways to ease the cancer
burden, Dwivedi and her team may
New York, NY
have finally found the answer: Nex-
n the wake of the pandemic, a new Car19. Like CAR T, the treatment
era emerges—marked by fresh reprograms a patient’s immune sys-
Idiscoveries, novel treatments, tem to fight cancer and was recently
and global victories over disease. approved for commercial use by the
Central Drugs Standard Control Or-
These are the most influen- ganization. Unlike CAR T, it is pro-
duced in India, lowering the cost to
tial people in health in 2024, about one-tenth that of CAR T ther-
as TIME Magazine’s inaugural apy. Although it can be used only for
blood cancers in patients over the
‘TIME100 Health’ list comes age of 15 for now, NexCar19 could

out. In the list, 4 Indian Amer- save millions of lives in the world’s
most populous country. “This is a
icans are featured in the cate- big achievement for India,” Dwive-
gory of Titans and Innovators. di told the Maryland-based National
Cancer Institute, where she is now
continuing to train at the Center for
DR VIVEK MURTHY - TITAN Cancer Research. “It’s the team ef-
fort that brought us here.”
S Surgeon General Dr. AVINDRA NATH - INNOVATOR
Vivek Murthy issued an ad-
Uvisory about the profound r. Avindra Nath, clinical di-
consequences of loneliness and iso- rector of the U.S. National
lation—a departure from the type of DInstitute of Neurological
standard medical conditions many of Disorders and Stroke, has always
his predecessors prioritized. been interested in viruses. He com-
He realized he needed to shine pleted his neurology training during
a spotlight on loneliness after travel- the AIDS epidemic, a formative ex-
ing the country, asking the people he ways that make it harder to connect. ALKA DWIVEDI - INNOVATOR perience that left him fascinated by
encountered how he could be help- VENKAT SHASTRI - INNOVATOR how viruses interact with the nervous
ful. College students told him that, s a graduate student at the system. This year, that interest yielded
despite being surrounded by thou- enkat Shastri’s company, Indian Institute of Technol- a historic study—perhaps the most ex-
sands of people, they felt like no one ALZPath, developed a blood Aogy, Alka Dwivedi noticed tensive ever conducted—on a long-ig-
truly knew them. The patients he was Vtest for one of the key mark- that the number of cancer patients nored and mysterious condition:
treating said they didn’t have anyone ers of early Alzheimer’s—ptau217, had begun increasing at an alarming myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic
to come pick them up at the hospi- which is a form of the Alzhei- rate every year. In 2023 alone, there fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).
tal. “Part of the reason I was attuned mer’s-linked protein tau—that doc- were nearly 1.6 million new diagno- For the multi-million-dollar
to this issue was because I struggled tors can now order from select labs. ses, according to the World Health study, a research team led by Nath
with loneliness in my own life, as a A 2024 study showed that the Organization. But the few available carried out a battery of tests on 17
child in particular,” he says. ALZPath test is as accurate as cere- treatments were not affordable for people with ME/CFS, a condition
Ideally, Murthy says, encourag- brospinal fluid in detecting early Alz- the majority of Indian patients who characterized by extreme fatigue,
ing conversation around loneliness heimer’s. The test for ptau217 could come from low- and middle-income which is worsened by physical and
will help shatter the stigma that con- eventually become a routine part of families. For example, CAR T-cell mental exertion. The study’s find-
tinues to surround it. “We associate blood tests for older people. therapy—immunotherapy in which ings will be instrumental in pushing
loneliness with not being likable, or “The next 12 to 18 months will T cells are modified to selectively forward research and treatment tri-
being defective in some way—like see our test become more and more attack cancer cells—originated in als focused not only on ME/CFS but
something must be wrong with you if relevant in Alzheimer’s, and more the U.S. and is now being tested in also on other postinfectious illnesses
you don’t have people around you,” useful in clinical practice with neu- Indian clinical trials as a promising like Long COVID, which may share
he says. rologists and primary-care physicians treatment for blood cancers like similar roots, Nath says. “It’s a great
“That’s just a fundamental mis- who see patients with memory is- leukemia and lymphoma. But it can opportunity,” he says. “If you can
conception,” especially given that sues,” says Shastri, who’s co-founder cost as much as 3 or 4 crores—near- crack one of them, I think we can
our environment has changed in and CEO of ALZpath. ly $50,000—in India. After years of crack all of them.”

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