Immunotherapy

One of the biggest meetings of the world’s cancer specialists took place this weekend. Usually located in Chicago, researchers and clinicians around the world met virtually this year to present the latest in cancer research at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting. Here’s a flavour of the some of the top research presented.

Widely-used anti-inflammatory drugs make tumours in mice more responsive to treatments that harness the power of the body’s own immune system to tackle cancer, according to research funded by Cancer Research UK and published in the journal Cancer Discovery.

A potentially life-extending treatment for some people with non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) will now be available on the NHS in England.

People with an aggressive form of lung cancer that’s come back after treatment could live longer when treated with the immunotherapy drug nivolumab.

We spoke to Dr Kate Cwynarski, who led the Stand Up To Cancer-funded MARIETTA trial, a clinical trial which details a “potentially transforming” treatment for some patients with secondary CNS lymphoma.

Genetic changes in tumours could be used to predict who will benefit from immunotherapy, and who should receive other treatments. 

Lymphoma patients in England are among the first in the world to be offered new CAR T cell therapy.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has approved 4 new cancer drugs for use on the NHS in Scotland to treat some lung, breast and prostate cancers.

Some people with head and neck cancer will now have access to the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab (Keytruda) on the NHS in England.   

A new immunotherapy treatment has been recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for some adults with small cell lung cancer.