Swiss pharma major Roche on Thursday announced the launch of its atezolizumab injection, Tecentriq SC that is administered under the skin for lung cancer treatment, in India with an eye on reducing time spent by patients in hospitals.

The subcutaneous (under-the-skin) immunotherapy for lung cancer can be administered in approximately seven minutes, compared to conventional IV (intravenous) infusions that can take hours, Roche Pharma India said.

"The time to administer reduces by 80 minutes because there is no more preparation and having to wait for an infusion chair because the eventual administration ranges between four to eight minutes, with a median of about seven minutes only. So there is a huge reduction in administration time," Roche India Director, Medical and Regulatory Affairs, Sivabalan Sivanesan told PTI.

Stating that in India 80,000 lung cancer patients are diagnosed annually, most of them with advanced stages, he said Roche's "unique formulation" will have an impact in terms of how many more patients it will actually be able to reach.

Sivanesan further said with Tecentriq SC, lung cancer patients will be able "to go from tertiary centers to daycare centers" and it even opens the door for much more potential of decentralising treatment, to be able to get the same treatment but with a much better experience.

"With Tecentriq SC, we are bringing an innovation that meaningfully reduces treatment time while maintaining the established efficacy and safety profile of Tecentriq," he said, adding it is priced at about "Rs 3.7 lakh per sub-cutting machine".

Tecentriq SC is available in 85 countries and over 10,000 patients benefitted globally, Sivanesan added.

Commenting on the launch, Roche Pharma India MD & CEO Rajwinder (Rajji) Mehdwan said the company is committed to bringing meaningful innovations to India that address not only clinical outcomes, but also the broader realities and challenges patients face during treatment.

"The launch of Tecentriq SC reflects our continued commitment to improving access to advanced cancer care through solutions that are faster, more convenient, support patient-centric outcomes and importantly enable health systems to be more efficient and effective in providing cancer care," he added.

Roche Pharma India said Tecentriq SC has the potential to treat up to five patients in the time taken to treat one patient on intravenous infusion, thus helping optimise healthcare resources.

Shorter administration formats can free up hospital beds, healthcare staff time, and oncology resources at tertiary care centres, help shift care delivery to daycare centers and beyond traditional tertiary centers, helping healthcare systems treat more patients more efficiently, the company said.

Published on May 14, 2026