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Yuvan, 11, with parents, Vinay and Sapna
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An 11-year-old has become the first NHS patient to receive a therapy that uses the body's own cells to fight cancer.
Yuvan
Thakkar, who has a form of leukaemia, was given the personalised
treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), in London, after
conventional cancer treatments failed.
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Kymriah is a personalised cancer immunotherapy
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CAR-T involves removing immune cells and modifying them in a laboratory so they can recognise cancer cells.
Previously, it was available only as part of a clinical research trial. The
CAR-T therapy, called Kymriah, costs £282,000 per patient, but the NHS
has negotiated a undisclosed lower price with the manufacturer,
Novartis.
And the money will come from the
Cancer Drugs Fund, set up to fast-track access to the most promising treatments.
Kymriah
is licensed to treat patients up to 25 years old with B-cell acute
lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), for whom other treatments have failed.
