Terminal blood cancer patients ‘cured’ by miracle drug already available on NHS for kidney tumours

TERMINAL blood cancer patients have been “cured” by a kidney drug.

Nearly all the patients are alive a year later and the disease has disappeared in eight per cent of them.

The drug, nivolumab, is used on the NHS for advanced skin and kidney tumours.

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Now it has been licensed for terminal cases of Hodgkin lymphoma, a blood cancer that hits at least 2,000 Brits a year, killing one in six.

In the trials 95 per cent of patients are alive a year later.

Andrew Phillips, 44, had unsuccessful chemo and stem cell therapy after he was diagnosed in 2008.

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But the accountant is now clear of cancer following four months of treatment with nivolumab last year.

Andrew, of Wokingham, Berks, said: “I’m in complete remission and working three days a week. I’m back in the land of the living.”

The £5,700-a-month drug, which primes the body’s defences to attack tumours, has yet to be given the go-ahead by NHS watchdog NICE. It can be bought privately.

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But Lymphoma Association head Jonathan Pearce said: “It is vital innovative treatments are being developed and made available. We want everyone affected to receive the best possible care.

“The more options there are to improve outcomes and quality of life for patients, the better.”