A high-dose MIBG (metaiodobenzylguanidine) therapy for treating neuroblastoma, a type of cancer mostly found in children, will be provided at an affordable cost of Rs 7-8 lakh at a research body associated with the Tata Memorial Centre (TMC). The Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC), a unit of TMC at Kharghar in Navi Mumbai, treated a 17-year-old with a supra-high dose of 131I-mIBG on May 5.

TMC director Dr Sudeep Gupta said the treatment of children with high-risk neuroblastoma, which requires a multi-modality approach including anti-GD2 immunotherapy, costs around Rs 75 lakh and has a long-term cure outcome of 50 per cent.

"The anti-GD2 immunotherapy is exceptionally expensive and inaccessible to many in India. But, the high-dose 131I-mIBG therapy at R7-8 lakh is affordable. With 41 ‘hot beds’ medical isolation ward, the largest in the world, TMC plans to routinely provide this treatment to patients with high-risk neuroblastoma,” he said.