Current Affair 1:

All about India’s 1st ‘living drug’

All about India’s 1st ‘living drug’

News:

Last week, the first ‘living drug’ in India received approval, marking a significant milestone in the country’s cancer care landscape.

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), on 13 October, approved the first CAR (Chimeric Antigen Receptor) T-cell therapy — a cutting-edge immunotherapy developed by ImmunoACT, a company incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, for the treatment of leukemia and refractory or relapsed lymphoma (cancers of the lymph system).

CAR T-cell therapy for treating specific types of cancer was first approved in the US in 2017 and, as of now, 6 therapies by various drugmakers have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Since the therapy uses a patient’s own genetically engineered cell to target cancer, it is also called a “living drug”.

In the US, this therapy costs about $400,000 or nearly Rs 3.3 crore, for every patient.

The therapy by ImmunoACT, named NexCAR 19 (Actalycabtagene autoleucel), however, has been indigenously developed in collaboration with the Tata Memorial Centre (TMC).

ImmunoACT has tied up with around 20 hospitals — public and private — in India so far, and patients are already registering for the therapy. The company plans to make it available to Indian patients at about Rs 30-40 lakh.

Current Affair 2:

International Olympic Committee (IOC)

 

News:

Established in on 23 June 1894, the International Olympic Committee is a not-for-profit independent international organisation. Based in Lausanne, Switzerland, the Olympic Capital, it is entirely privately funded and distributes 90 per cent of its revenues to the wider sporting movement, for the development of sport and athletes at all levels.

The International Olympic Committee is the guardian of the Olympic Games and the leader of the Olympic Movement.

The IOC organizes the modern Olympic Games and Youth Olympic Games (YOG), held in summer and winter every four years.

In 2009, the UN General Assembly granted the IOC Permanent Observer status. The decision enables the IOC to be directly involved in the UN Agenda and to attend UN General Assembly meetings where it can take the floor.

The IOC is the governing body of the National Olympic Committees (NOCs).

IOC members: Currently, there are 107 members.

Current Affair 3:

Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) Network

 

News:

India recently launched state-of-art latest National Survey Network. The nationwide "Continuously Operating Reference Stations" (CORS) Network will be operated by the Survey of India.

A CORS (Continuously Operating Reference Station) is a GPS or GNSS reference station that provides continuous and permanent real-time positioning information for a specific area.   CORS stations provide high-precision GNSS information, with accuracy levels typically in the range of millimeters to centimeters. This level of accuracy is much higher than what can be achieved with most consumer-grade GNSS receivers and is achieved through the use of high-quality GNSS receivers, antennas, and processing algorithms.

 

India now has a world class Precise Location based service, which are capable of providing centimetre level positioning services in real-time.

How CORS will be helpful?

1. In addition to the Geospatial sector, CORS based precision services will also boost auto navigation and machine control-based solution in Agriculture, Mining, Construction, Transport and Civil Aviation sector.
2. This will open new domains of innovation and research and create a Geospatial based ecosystem in these sectors.
3. CORS data will also aid in various scientific studies like Upper Atmosphere and Space weather studies, Meteorology and weather forecast, Plate motion and Tectonic studies, Seismology and Hydrology etc.
4. Nationwide CORS based services will be available to business and pubic, which will not only ensure coherence in geospatial data generated by different stake holders by providing them common reference, but will also increase their productivity.

The Survey of India has set up more than 1,000 CORS stations across India.

Current Affair 4:

Psyche mission of NASA

 

News:

NASA is set to launch its Psyche mission — a spacecraft that will for the first time explore a unique and mysterious asteroid with a core of nickel and iron.

The asteroid, also named Psyche, is located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and has a metallic core that is exposed to space — a rarity among asteroids.

An understanding of this asteroid can give insight into the major and violent collisions that created both asteroids and Earth in the early days of the solar system.

The mission aims to uncover the secrets of this metallic world. It will determine if the asteroid is an independent entity or the leftover core from an early planet, and can help us learn more about the origin and evolution of planets, asteroids, and Earth.

Why Psyche?

The approximately 280 km x 230 km asteroid, known as 16 Psyche or simply Psyche, is not an ordinary one.

Unlike most asteroids, which are made of rock or ice, Psyche is mostly composed of metals such as iron and nickel, similar to the core of Earth and other terrestrial planets. This makes Psyche a rare and valuable object for scientific investigation, as it could provide insights into how planets form and differentiate (have a distinct core).

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