Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, the Advanced Centre for Training Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC), Navi Mumbai along with IDRS Labs, Bangalore have developed an oral suspension of 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) in India. 6-MP is a chemotherapy drug used in the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common type of blood cancer afflicting children.

The first and only child-friendly formulation is available in the form of a powder for oral suspension, and marketed under the tradename ‘PREVALL’.

PREVALL can be reconstituted into 100 ml oral suspension at a concentration of 10mg/ml. It is available with a syringe and a press in bottle adapter (PIBA) for precise dosing tailored to the patient’s body weight or body surface area.

It has been approval by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) under the ministry of health and family welfare, government of India. Tata Memorial Centre and IDRS Labs jointly published the results of the clinical study that lead to regulatory approval in the scientific journal Pediatric Blood and Cancer recently.

PREVALL, the dry powder pharmaceutical suspension of 6-mercaptopurine, is a patented technology of IDRS Labs Private Limited and will be available in all major hospital pharmacies across the country very soon. Approximately 10,000 children in the age group of 1-10 years diagnosed with ALL are expected to benefit from PREVALL each year.

Dr. Vikram, Professor of Clinical Pharmacology, ACTREC, said that the powder for oral suspension is designed to ensure stability of the drug in hot/humid conditions and is quite distinct from the liquid formulation available elsewhere in the world.

Dr. Sudeep Gupta, Director, Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai, said that TMC is committed to fostering innovation, citing the example of CAR-T cell therapy  which was also pioneered by TMC recently in a similar collaborative effort.

Dr. Ajit Kumar Mohanty, Secretary Department of Atomic Energy, and Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, said the development is an outcome of the convergence of academia and industry interests to bridge the gap between unmet need and innovation in healthcare.