Second chance at life
Cancer teen in remission after wonder treatment
THE first NHS patient to receive a treatment that uses the body’s own cells to fight cancer has spoken about how it has saved his life.
Yuvan Thakkar, 16, was diagnosed with a form of leukaemia and by age 11 had endured chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, but both treatments failed.
He then became the first NHS patient to receive pioneering CAR-T cancer therapy, which involves removing immune cells and modifying them in a laboratory so they can recognise cancer cells.
Preparing for his GCSEs this summer, with the help of mum Sapna and dad Vinay, Yuvan is in remission.
Sapna, 45, said: “Not a single day passes by when we haven’t felt thankful for all the doctors and nurses that have helped us through this long and difficult journey.
“Our whole family feels like we have received a second chance at life.”
Yuvan had acute lymphoblastic leukaemia which affects about 600 people a year. The CAR-T drug, called Kymriah, was his last hope and was delivered by an infusion at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.
He said: “They have helped me recover to a state where I am able to enjoy so many things I love doing.”
The teenager, from Watford, Herts, – who was visited in hospital by England striker Harry Kane – is one of almost 100,000 people which NHS England today announces have received experimental treatments under the NHS Cancer Drugs Fund.
It fast-tracks access to newly licenced cancer drugs while data is collected on their effectiveness.
The scheme meant NHS England said that it would fund his CAR-T drug, which has a list price of £282,000, in September 2019 – 10 days after it was granted a European licence.
Launched in England in 2016, the fund gives doctors quicker access to medicines which show promising results in trials. Since Yuvan’s case it has allowed the NHS to offer two more different forms of CAR-T.