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NHS Takes Up Revolutionary Immunotherapy Cancer Treatment

on Friday, 12 October 2018.

The National Health Service is to take up a revolutionary immunotherapy cancer treatment from Novartis. The drug called Kymriah is very expensive, with a list price of £282,000 per patient, but seen by some as a miracle cure.

It works by taking a patient's own white blood cells (its immune system's killer T-cells) and re-engineering them to fight cancer before re-injecting them into the body, where they multiply and recognise and destroy cancer cells. Simon Stevens, the Chief Executive of NHS England, has hailed this form of cancer treatment, known as CAR-T therapy, as the future.

Mr Stevens said, "CAR-T therapy is a true game changer and NHS cancer patients are now going to be amongst the first in the world to benefit."

To start with, though, it will only have limited availability. Just 20 children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) will be eligible. It will go to only those children who have failed a series of earlier treatments, such as stem cell transplants.

Kymriah has also been licensed to treat adults with another, more common form of blood cancer, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). However, NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) has not yet decided whether the NHS can afford it.

Comment

We first heard about this form of treatment in a PING (Pharmaceutical Industry Network Group) meeting from Yogesh Davé, a Qualified Person at Cypress Quality Consultancy. Attendees at the meeting were stunned and uplifted by his presentation about how it can totally change cancer treatments, even with people whose disease is advanced and has not responded to other treatment.

The clinical trials have shown some incredible outcomes, with remission rates in blood cancer patients with advanced disease and little other hope of survival of more than 80%. CAR-T therapy has been likened to radiotherapy, which transformed cancer treatment when it was introduced, substantially improving patients' long-term prognosis.

Particularly given the constant talk of budgetary pressures, it is encouraging that the NHS has been pioneering this innovative treatment in Europe. Personalised medicine is here.


If you have any thoughts on personalised medicine or the introduction of immunotherapy, please share them with Paul Gershlick in our Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences team on 01923 919 320.

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