First child given pioneering CAR-T cancer therapy

Friday 01st February 2019 07:14 EST
 
 

An 11 year old is now the first NHS patient to receive a CAR-T to fight cancer. Yuvan Thakkar, who suffers from a form of leukaemia, has received the personalised treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in London, after conventional cancer treatments failed. CAR-T therapy involves removing immune cells and modifying them in a laboratory so they can recognise cancer cells. Also called Kymriah, it costs £282,000 per patient, however, the NHS has negotiated an undisclosed lower price with the manufacturer, Novartis. Funds for the method will come from the Cancer Drugs Fund, set up to fast-track access to the most promising treatments.

Watford-based Yuvan was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2014, and had received chemotherapy and then underwent a bone marrow transplant but relapsed after both treatments. His parents Sapna and Vinay said, “When Yuvan was diagnosed, it was the most heartbreaking news we had ever received. We tried to stay hopeful, as they say leukaemia in children was 90 per cent cure rate, but sadly his illness relapsed.” Yuvan said, “I really hope I get better soon so I can visit Lego House in Denmark. I love Lego and am building a big model Bugatti while I'm in hospital.”

Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia affects about 600 people a year, most of them children. While many are cured by conventional treatments, about 100 per cent relapse. In November, it was announced that GOSH, along with Royal Manchester Children's Hospital and Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, would treat children with this rare form of leukaemia.

CAR-T is personalised form of cancer treatment in which the patient has blood removed and the white blood cells are separated out, with the rest of the blood being returned to the patient. The T-cells, a special type of immune cell, are then sent to a laboratory in the United States, where a harmless virus is used to insert genes into them. The genes cause the T-cells to add a hook on to their surface, known as a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR). These engineered cells which are programmed to recognise and destroy the patient's cancer cells, are multiplied in huge numbers and then infused back into the patient.

Dr Sara Ghorashian, consultant in paediatric haematology at GOSH and Yuvan's doctor, said, “We are pleased to be able to offer patients like Yuvan another chance to be cured. While it will be a while before the outcome of this powerful new therapy is known, the treatment has shown very promising results in clinical trials and we are hopeful that it will help.”


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