Cutting-edge therapy too costly for NHS

Cutting-edge CAR-T cell therapy has been deemed too expensive for the NHS to provide.

Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, which genetically engineers the body’s immune cells to destroy cancer cells, costs around £340,000 in the US.

Darci’s costs would cover the price of her treatment and recovery in hospital, as well as the procedure itself.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) said on Tuesday that the price of the Yescarta CAR-T therapy was too high to be considered cost-effective.

The complex treatment is considered a game-changer in fighting blood cancer for those who have exhausted other options.

It was hoped the NHS would fast-track the therapy to be provided in hospitals later this year, making it one of the most innovative treatments ever offered on the NHS.

Yescarta was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in October.

In trials, it put patients with only months to live into remission.

Professor Raj Chopra, of the Institute of Cancer Research, said the Nice finding was disappointing.

He said: “The technique is complex and expensive, but it is also a major advance in cancer treatment that has cured some patients who would otherwise have died.”