Experts from Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, India, and the Advanced Centre for Training Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC) have partnered with IDRS Labs to develop an oral suspension of 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) to treat leukaemia.

A first-of-its-kind oral suspension chemotherapy drug, mercaptopurine treats acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) in children.

Known as PREVALL, the new child-friendly formulation is a powder for oral suspension.

It can be made into a 100ml solution at a 10mg/ml concentration, guaranteeing accurate dosage and reducing the risk of spillage and caregivers' cytotoxic substance exposure.

It is offered along with a syringe and a press-in-bottle adapter that permits exact dosage based on the patient's body weight or body surface area.

The introduction of PREVALL addresses issues associated with traditional tablet dosage such as amount accuracy and patient toleration.

Providers previously crushed tablets or alternated dosing schedules to meet the specific needs of paediatric patients.

Tata Memorial Hospital paediatric oncology professor and head Dr Girish Chinnaswamy stated: “Children with curable cancers such as ALL deserve the best possible care, and formulations such as PREVALL...help in ensuring dose optimisation, improving adherence and maximising the efficacy of drugs.”

India's Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) approved PREVALL, based on published clinical study data.

The formulation has been introduced in Tata Memorial Hospital and will become available in major pharmacies across India shortly.

India's Department of Atomic Energy secretary Dr Ajit Kumar Mohanty stated: “The development is an outcome of the convergence of academia and industry interests to bridge the gap between unmet need and innovation in healthcare.”