Blood cancer patients to be offered groundbreaking new immunity drugs as ‘standard of care’ on the NHS after success of trial in patients who failed to respond to other drugs

Patients with a difficult-to-treat form of blood cancer will be offered breakthrough immune drugs as ‘standard of care’ on the NHS.

Watchdogs gave the green light to pembrolizumab last week after research showed patients with Hodgkin’s lymphoma lived longer than those who received radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

In one study, one in five patients who did not respond to other medications saw their cancer disappear. The disease slowed by another 47 percent. On average, pembrolizumab continued to work for just over a year.

Commenting on the results when they were revealed, Dr. Craig Moskowitz, clinical director of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, said the drug was “an important step forward in the treatment of these patients, who generally are young and have a particularly poor prognosis. . It gives us the opportunity to help them in their fight against this devastating disease.”

Top oncologist Hendrik-Tobias Arkenau said: ‘We know that pembrolizumab keeps these difficult-to-treat lymphoma patients healthier for longer than other therapies. They also generally live longer, so this is very good news.”

Pembrolizumab works by blocking the activity of a protein found on some tumors: programmed cell death protein 1, or PD-1.

Doing this allows the immune system to recognize and attack these cancers.

Also known by the brand name Keytruda, it has been shown to be highly effective in tackling melanoma skin cancer, breast, lung, kidney, uterine and cervical cancers – but only cancers that are PD-1 positive, or with other genetic markers .

Some people may develop these cancers, but tests show that their tumors do not contain PD-1, meaning pembrolizumab is much less successful.

Due to the highly targeted nature of the treatment, there is less damage to healthy body tissues. This means that patients often suffer much less side effects from immunotherapy than with older treatments.

In studies, pembrolizumab was given once every three weeks via an intravenous infusion in hospital, but Prof. Arkenau says new research has shown that even fewer treatments are needed – with the same effect.

Each dose of Pembrolizumab costs around £5,600, although the NHS may pay less for certain types of cancer (file photo)

He adds: ‘Immunotherapy generally does not cause the terrible nausea that can last for days after chemotherapy treatment. There is a risk of the immune system overreacting, but this is quite easy to control with steroids.’

Pembrolizumab, developed by Merck of Germany, was approved in 2014. Each dose costs around £5,600, although the NHS may pay less for certain types of cancer.

Merck’s patent expires in 2028, meaning other companies will have the freedom to produce nearly identical drugs, which will drive down the price.

Professor Arkenau says: ‘Currently pembrolizumab is expensive and is therefore only offered when other, more standard treatments have not worked. However, we know that it is also effective as a first-line treatment. When it goes off patent it will undoubtedly be offered even more widely on the NHS.’