'Incredibly impressive' results from cancer drug trials at Christie

GROUND-BREAKING cancer trials in Manchester are producing 'incredibly impressive' results, with seriously-ill people going into remission for months and years, The Christie has announced

- PAUL BRITTON

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust said its experimental work into blood cancers like myeloma is seeing the vast majority of patients responding to treatment. At the moment, the trust has around 30 clinical trials in progress for blood cancer, including five for myeloma, a disease that develops from plasma cells in the bone marrow.

Many of the patients on the trials have run out of other treatment options or are down to their last few, making the results even more astounding.

Dr Emma Searle, consultant haematologist at The Christie, said a raft of new immunotherapy drugs - which are so experimental they do not yet have a name mean some patients, such as those with myeloma, are seeing their cancer drop to undetectable levels.

"The results for this kind of trial using drugs that enable the immune system to see and attack the myeloma - are incredibly impressive," she said.