In India, bone marrow transplantation (BMT) is being used to treat various disorders like blood and lymphatic system cancers which includes leukaemias such as acute lymphocytic anaemia (ALL), chronic lymphocytic anaemia; acute myelogenous anaemia (AML), and chronic myelogenous anaemia (CML); Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin lymphomas and multiple myeloma. It is also used for the treatment of thalassemia and bone marrow dysplasia. The number of patients diagnosed with these disorders have increased in the past decade and so have BMTs. Bone marrow, like other organs, has to be donated either by a sibling, where the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) is a match or an unrelated donor having a matching HLA.
Countries around the world have donor registries to help facilitate unrelated BMTs. Currently, there are two bone marrow registries in India, DATRI and Marrow Donor Registry India (MDRI). M Neelam Kachhap spoke to Raghu Rajagopal, CEO, DATRI to know more about their work.
When was the organisation formed, and with how much capital?
| Raghu Rajagopal |
DATRI, a non-governmental organisation was set up in the year 2009 in Chennai, with an aim to save lives of people with Indian origin who are suffering from life threatening diseases like leukaemia, lymphoma, etc., anywhere across the globe, through peripheral blood stem cell transplant (PBSC), by maintaining a donors’ registry and doing the matching of the genetic typing of the patient with that of the available donor.
Who are the investors?
DATRI is an NGO, co-founded by me, Dr Nezih Cereb and Dr Soo Young Yang. I am is the CEO of DATRI and all of us are the directors. The organisation has been supported largely by histogenetics and with the help of contributions from patients, their relatives and CSR of organisations.
What is the mission of the organisation, and what are its functional areas?
DATRI is striving to reach out and create awareness about the concept of blood stem cell transplantation and its credits, among the general public, physicians and GPs, college students and the government, for society’s benefit. It is also making constant efforts to increase the registered Donors’ database.
Which hospitals in India have you tied-up with?
DATRI has tied-up with six hospitals across India – Apollo Hospital (Chennai), Narayana Hrudayalaya (Bangalore), Dr BL Kapoor Memorial Hospital (NCR), Indo American Cancer Institute & Research Hospital (Hyderabad), Hiranandani Hospital (Mumbai) and Tata Medical Centre (Kolkata)
What are your immediate goals for the organisation?
The organisation mainly seeks for the awareness among the public, so that people become aware on the less painful option of treating these life-threatening diseases.
The immediate goal would be increasing the number of registered donors.
Where do you see your company five years from now?
We would like to see awareness increase in every city of India. We would like to have 250,000 registered donors in India.
It is mentioned in your profile that you have 29,000 registered donors. Are they from India?
Yes. The donors are from India. We just concluded a donor drive in Dubai for Indians residing there to become part of the registry.
What protocols do you follow in donor registration and HLA typing and donor data security?
We follow the guidelines of World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA) guidelines to operate the registry.
Is this data in public domain?
The HLA data alone (not the donor information) is available in Bone Marrow Donor Worldwide (BMDW) for allowing registered physicians all over the world to search for a donor anywhere in the world.
Which lab are you associated with? Is it in India?
Histogenetics in the US.
Is DATRI complying with the ethical and policy guidelines for stem cell transplantation?
Yes, we follow the guidelines defined by WMDA.
Are you associated with any academic centres? Do you participate in stem cell research?
We are registered with Bone Marrow Donor Worldwide (BMDW) and we are a member of World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA).