Hope for blood cancer patients

NHS rolls out life-saving treatment

Hundreds of people living with a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer are set to benefit from a new treatment now available on the NHS.

The drug Glofitamab (Columvi®) will now be offered to around 300 people a year with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) , a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that either returns or doesn’t respond to chemotherapy.

Until now, this treatment was only available to people who had already tried two different types of cancer therapy. Thanks to the NHS fast-tracking it through the Cancer Drugs Fund, patients can now receive it much earlier, potentially avoiding more rounds of tough treatment.

Glofitamab works by helping the immune system target and destroy cancer cells. In trials, almost six in ten people saw their cancer go into complete remission when the drug was combined with chemotherapy. It’s given every three weeks as an intravenous infusion and has shown promising long-term survival results.

NHS England’s National Clinical Director for Cancer, Professor Peter Johnson, described the development as “excellent news for patients with this aggressive form of blood cancer.”

At Healthwatch West Berkshire, we welcome this news, it’s another example of how the NHS is making innovative treatments available faster, helping more people access potentially life-saving care sooner.