Life-extending cancer drug rolled out across the NHS
The drug takes just 30-minutes to administer
A brand new treatment, the first of its kind for advanced womb cancer, is being rolled out for women across England.
The drug, called Dostarlimab, takes just 30-minutes to administer and will extend the lives of women with advanced, often incurable endometrial cancer.
Tony Miles is a Director with the Surrey & Sussex Cancer Alliance and described it as a "great innovation".
He said: "The cancers are very tricky. They hide themselves from your immune system, and what this drug does it take off that cloak on invisibility. That's different to the old type of drugs which were basically poisoning the cancer.
"It's a really fantastic innovation and quick too. 30 minutes receiving the treatment and then going about your day in the normal way is quite different from turning up five days a week for cancer treatment."
While the new drug is a revelation, Mr Miles says the best treatment against cancer is getting it identified quickly.
He continued: "It's very important to understand that most people with symptoms don't have cancer. Probably 95 patients out of every 100 patients that come to us don't have cancer and we can tell them that very quickly."
Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: “Our NHS continues to roll out the most innovative treatments from around the world to benefit patients, and this new treatment for endometrial cancer – the first of its kind – will offer hope to hundreds of women.
“Dostarlimab will give those most in need improved quality of life.
“A big thank you to NHS England, NICE and GSK who have made this treatment a reality.”