If you have ever sat with a family member in a cancer ward, you know what chemotherapy looks like. You arrive early in the morning. You wait. A nurse inserts a needle into the vein. And then you sit sometimes for three, four, even five hours while the drug slowly drips in. By the time you leave, the day is gone. And you have to come back and do it all over again next week.
That experience, for millions of cancer patients in India, may slowly be changing.
Two new treatments launched in India in recent weeks are showing what modern cancer care can look like and the difference from what came before is hard to ignore.
Seven minutes. That is it.
On May 15, 2026, Roche India launched a cancer drug called Tecentriq SC. It is meant for patients with non-small cell lung cancer, which is the most common type of lung cancer in India, accounting for about 85% of all lung cancer cases. What makes it different from older treatments is simple: instead of going into a vein through a drip, this drug is injected under the skin. And the whole thing takes about seven minutes.
Not seven hours. Seven minutes.
The drug itself atezolizumab is not new. It has been used in India for several years through an IV drip. The first infusion used to take 60 minutes; later ones, 30 minutes and that is not counting preparation time, waiting time, and travel. The new version uses a delivery technology developed by an American company called Halozyme Therapeutics that temporarily makes the tissue under the skin more permeable, so the drug can be absorbed into the bloodstream quickly through a single injection in the thigh. The SC dose is 1,875 mg compared to 1,200 mg in the IV version, but clinical studies confirm they are medically equivalent.
Doctors say this matters more than it might sound. Most cancer centres in Indian cities are already overcrowded. Patients wait hours just to get a chair. A treatment that takes seven minutes instead of 60 means the same ward can treat many more patients in a day. For the patient, it means getting treatment and going home without losing the entire day.
Not everyone with lung cancer qualifies. A patient needs to first get a test done that checks for a protein called PD-L1 in their tumour. Those with higher levels of this protein are the ones most likely to benefit from this drug. Tecentriq SC has already been approved in more than 85 countries and used in over 10,000 patients globally.
What is the difference between chemotherapy and this?
Chemotherapy goes after all fast-growing cells in the body including cancer cells, but also healthy ones. That is why it causes hair loss, vomiting, and exhaustion. The body takes a beating because the drug cannot tell the difference between a cancer cell and a healthy one.
Tecentriq SC is an immunotherapy drug. It works differently. Cancer cells are clever; they produce a protein that acts like a disguise, tricking the immune system into leaving them alone. This drug blocks that protein. Once the disguise is removed, the body’s own immune system can recognise the cancer cells and fight them. It is less like a bomb and more like lifting a blindfold.
A cancer pill you take at home
The second new treatment came from Eli Lilly, which launched a drug called Tanstrive generic name selpercatinib in India on June 25, 2026, after India’s drug regulator CDSCO gave it the green light.
This one is even simpler in form: it is a tablet. You take it twice a day, at home. No hospital. No needle. No drip.
Tanstrive works for a very specific group of patients whose cancer is driven by a change in something called the RET gene. When this gene mutates or fuses abnormally, it sends signals that tell cancer cells to keep growing. Tanstrive blocks those signals directly. It is designed only for patients whose tumour tests positive for this RET gene alteration, which affects roughly 1 to 2 per cent of non-small cell lung cancer patients and a much larger share of certain thyroid cancer patients.
The drug is available as tablets in four strengths and is priced at ₹2.15 lakh per box, which covers 14 days of treatment.
The honest part
None of this is cheap. Tecentriq SC costs around ₹3.7 lakh per dose, and most patients need multiple doses. Roche has a subsidy programme called Blue Tree to help with costs, and the drug has reportedly been listed under the Central Government Health Scheme, which means government employees may be able to access it. But for most ordinary families, these price tags are still difficult to manage.
Access is also not equal. Both drugs require genetic or biomarker testing before a doctor can even prescribe them. That kind of testing is not available in every hospital in every city. A patient in a smaller town may never find out whether they qualify.
But here is the thing. Even five years ago, the idea of treating lung cancer with a seven-minute injection or a tablet taken at home would have sounded unlikely. Science is moving. Cancer care is not what it used to be. And for patients who do get access to these treatments, the difference in daily life in dignity, in time, in the simple ability to not spend your entire day in a hospital is very real.
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