• Question: What do you think of the new cancer pills that have been abroved in the UK?

    Asked by HiI'mSophie to RobB on 20 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Rob Brass

      Rob Brass answered on 20 Jun 2016:

      I’m guessing you mean the new immunotherapy drugs? Yeah, it’s exciting! It’s a bit strange too because normally a new treatment takes years and years to get approved but this has been really fast! In the last 5-10 years immunotherapy has gone from an exciting ‘what if’ sort of idea to being approved for use, it’s actually one of the fastest approvals in NHS history!

      I’m not an expert on the subject but as I understand it immunotherapy works by teaching your own immune system to attack the cancer cells. Cancer cells give off chemical signals which convince our immune system that they are healthy tissue. These new drugs block the ‘off switch’ on our white blood cells, allowing them attack the tumour. They’ve seen very good results in clinical trials, which I guess was the key to it getting approved so quickly! At the moment the drugs have only been approved for use in advanced melanoma (skin cancer) patients but the idea and the technology should be able to be adapted to other sites too. On the downside it could end up putting me out of a job! ha

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