Groundbreaking cancer trials are producing “incredibly impressive” results, with seriously ill people going into remission for months and years, a leading hospital has announced.
The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester said its experimental work into blood cancers such as myeloma is seeing the vast majority of patients responding to treatment.
Dr Emma Searle, consultant haematologist at the Christie, said a raft of new immunotherapy drugs – which are so experimental they do not yet have a name – mean some patients, such as those with myeloma, are seeing their cancer drop to undetectable levels. Dr Searle added: “These drugs are a huge breakthrough in this type of cancer, allowing patients without standard treatment options to achieve remission, in many cases for months or years.“Used in combination with other myeloma drugs, it is likely that responses and the effect on life expectancy will be even longer.”
Patients with myeloma used to survive for three to five years, though latest data suggests half of patients are still alive after 10 years.Although some of the new immunotherapies being tested are still only available in clinical trials in Manchester and London, the hope is they will become more widely used around the UK.
She has only experienced fairly minor side-effects of the new drug, such brittle nails and some loss of taste.Before immunotherapy, she used to catch infection after infection but has not had any since starting the new treatment.
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