Update from Dr Jindal in India and his new role on the ACARE Steering Committee

Dr Ankur Jindal is Assistant Professor of Pediatric Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology at the Allergy Immunology Unit, Department of Pediatrics, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh, India. He is a key part of the HAE community in India; his center is a certified ACARE (Angioedema Centers of Reference and Excellence), where he is the department head. He is the General Secretary of the Hereditary Angioedema Society of India (HAESI) and a strong supporter of HAE India. In addition, Dr Jindal was recently elected to the Steering Committee of ACARE.

Global Perspectives (GP) was fortunate to get time with Dr Jindal at the fringes of the 2025 HAEi Regional Conference APAC, where he was part of the Scientific Committee. In addition to asking about his work with ACARE, which is a joint collaboration between HAEi and the Global Allergy and Asthma Excellence Network (GA2LEN), GPs asked about the advances in HAE in India and what this could mean for patients with HAE in other resource-constrained settings.

GP: Congratulations on becoming part of the ACARE Steering Committee. What does this mean for you?

Dr Jindal: Thank you so much. It is indeed a big honor for me to be a part of the ACARE Steering Committee. ACARE is the largest and strongest global network of centers and physicians who not only provide care to patients with angioedema and hereditary angioedema but are also actively involved in clinical trials and research. ACARE also provides a unique platform and opportunity for physicians to initiate collaborative research with more than 100 centers in the network.

Being part of this robust network has always been a dream of mine. Our Institute has been an ACARE center since 2021, which has been enormous for us in advancing the care of patients with HAE in India.

Becoming a part of the ACARE steering committee, one of the organization’s most important decision-making units brings responsibilities to advance progress in clinical, diagnostic, and treatment-based research.

GP: What do you hope to bring to this new role?

Dr Jindal: I represent a part of the world where diagnostic and management facilities for angioedema and hereditary angioedema are not fully developed or easily accessible. Hence, I bring a perspective from a ‘resource-constrained’ setting to the network. I am looking forward to my new role as an ACARE Steering Committee member.

GP: Can you give us a brief description of the current situation for HAE in India and any changes or improvements on the horizon?

Dr Jindal: HAE in India has been full of challenges but also unique opportunities. A major challenge for us is to improve awareness of HAE amongst physicians and to improve the diagnostic rate of HAE. We have accomplished this goal through Continuing Medical Education (CME), webinars, and publications in several parts of the country. Approximately 50-100 new HAE patients are diagnosed annually in India. However, we are nowhere near diagnosing all we might expect to have HAE, an estimated 27,000 to 135,000 patients. Although the diagnostic facilities for HAE have improved significantly, it is an ongoing process.

Another major challenge is the availability and access to first-line treatment options. Plasma-derived C1 inhibitor concentrate has been available in India for over 2 years. Through the national rare disease policy of the Government of India, we have been able to provide access to plasma-derived C1 inhibitor concentrate to some of our patients, and several other patients will soon be able to access this treatment. We anticipate clinical trials from 2 pharmaceutical companies to start in India in early 2026.

We established a physician society for HAE, the HAE Society of India (HAESI, www.haesi.in), in February 2021. Since its inception, the society has taken several critical steps towards improving awareness of HAE and bringing first-line treatment options into the country.

We also have a registered patient society for HAE (HAE India), which is actively working to improve patients’ quality of life and awareness about HAE in the country.

GP: Global Perspectives understands you do a lot to support countries in your region. Can you tell us more about this work and the impact it has had?

Dr Jindal: Having understood the challenges for HAE in India and the ways to overcome many of them, we started recognizing similar challenges in several South-East Asian countries as well.

In collaboration with HAE International (HAEi) and the Bangladesh Dermatology Society (BDS), we organized an educational webinar for physicians in Bangladesh. We followed this with a dedicated 5-hour HAE session at the national BDS conference in July 2024. As a result, a dedicated Urticaria/Angioedema-focused group of physicians formed in Bangladesh. This group works with the Bangladesh patient organization to improve HAE awareness.

We invited representatives from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and the Philippines to the ACARE Preceptorship in Goa in late 2024. Representatives from Nepal and Kazakhstan also attended the ACARE Preceptorship held in Chandigarh in February 2023. These medical education events significantly improved HAE awareness in these countries.

We have also organized CME for dermatologists in the Philippines in collaboration with the Philippine Academy of Clinical and Cosmetic Dermatology (PACCD) in March 2025. If we can secure support, we hope to continue educational activities for HAE for physicians in the Philippines.

GP: What would you say to other healthcare professionals seeking to replicate your success in diagnosing patients?

Dr Jindal: Our beloved Dr Marcus Maurer always taught us: ‘Never Give Up.’ Despite several challenges in India, we never gave up. We must utilize the available resources as best as possible, but we should never stop trying to get something better for our patients with HAE.

In countries where first-line treatment options are not easily available or accessible, it is common for HAE patients to lose hope and accept this disease as part of their lifestyle. However, as physicians, we must reach out, keep motivating, and provide hope. And do this in collaboration with the patient organization in your country/region.

Global Perspectives: How important is a partnership with patient advocacy organizations to your work in HAE?

Dr Jindal: I still remember the first-ever patient-doctor meeting HAEi organized in New Delhi, India, in March 2019; it was a stepping stone, and we never looked back. The support from HAEi and HAE India has been phenomenal in our efforts to improve awareness and bring first-line treatment options for HAE in India. HAE patient advocacy organizations have always been an integral part of our efforts and continue to do so; they are essential to the activities we carry out.

The HAESI recently organized 2 healthcare professional education meetings on 23 and 24 March 2025 in Odisha (a coastal state in the eastern part of the country). We always include a talk on patient perspectives, and listening to their journey taught the physicians who attended more than disease facts can convey.

The presence of HAEi acts as a launch pad to drive your efforts to improve awareness and bring first-line treatment options for HAE in their countries. I always convey this message to my colleagues from neighboring countries. Now, we have real-world evidence to demonstrate HAEi’s impact. A recent publication from the Asia-Pacific region showed that HAEi patient group presence in a country significantly improves the diagnostic rates of HAE and access to first-line treatment options.

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Global Perspectives is grateful to Dr Jindal for sharing his work in HAE with us, especially at such a busy time. Dr Jindal is a powerful advocate and voice for resource-constrained countries. His election to the ACARE Steering Committee can only help ensure the needs of this vitally important patient population are heard, understood, and acted upon. You can learn more about ACARE’s work at haei.org and acare-network.com.