NHS nets 'game-changing' leukaemia treatment
A cutting-edge personalised treatment for a form of childhood leukaemia is to be made available on the NHS in the first deal of its kind in Europe. NHS England has negotiated a contract with pharmaceutical manufacturer Novartis for a therapy that reprogrammes a patient's immune system to attack cancer cells.The treatment, known as CAR-T (chimeric antigen receptor T-cell) therapy, will be available to children and young people under the age of 25 who have B cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.The therapy, which is specifically developed for each patient and is currently only available in Europe in clinical trials, may be available within weeks and could help around 20 children a year.In CAR-T therapy, cells are removed from the patient's blood and reprogrammed into geneticall...