New personalised therapy for children with cancer

NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens has announced that children and young people in England will receive a groundbreaking cancer treatment, thanks to CAR-T therapy.

Announced at the NHS England Health Innovation Expo, the deal is set to be the first in what is expected to be a rapidly expanding class of personalised cancer therapies available on the NHS. Greed with European manufacturer Novartis, the deal represents one of the fastest funding approvals in the 70 year history of the NHS.

The landmark deal means young people with a form of leukaemia are set to receive CAR-T (a chimeric antigen receptor T-cell) therapy within weeks, after NICE also green-lighted the treatment for entry into the reformed NHS Cancer Drugs Fund.

Unlike other forms of treatment, CAR-T therapy is specifically developed for each individual patient and involves reprogramming the patient’s own immune system cells which are then used to target their cancer, proving to cure some patients in trials, even those with advanced cancers where other treatments have failed.

Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, will say at the Health Innovation Expo in Manchester: “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. Today’s approval is proof-positive that, in our 70th year, the NHS is leading from the front on innovative new treatments. This constructive fast-track negotiation also shows how responsible and flexible life sciences companies can succeed – in partnership with the NHS – to make revolutionary treatments available to patients.”

Charles Swanton, Cancer Research UK’s chief clinician said: “It’s fantastic news for children and young people with this form of leukaemia that CAR-T cell therapy will be made available on the NHS, making them the first in Europe to have routine access to this exciting new type of immunotherapy. We applaud NHS England, NICE and the company for working together to make this immensely complex treatment available to patients quickly, through the Cancer Drugs Fund.”