HCA offers revolutionary cancer therapy
HCA Healthcare UK has announced the launch of CAR T-cell therapy – a ground-breaking new blood cancer treatment.
It is available to patients with certain types of lymphoma –including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma and transformed follicular lymphoma – at HCA UK at University College Hospital and The Christie Private Care, Manchester, part of HCA Healthcare UK.
The hospital group is among the first private providers to offer the therapy in units accredited by JACIE for administering immune effoctor cells and also rated by the Care Quality Commission as ‘Outstanding’. Patients with other blood cancers can access the treatment later.
Prof Stephen Mackinnon
Prof Stephen Mackinnon, chairman of the HCA Healthcare UK Blood Cancer Board, said: ‘Blood cancer is the third biggest cancer killer in the UK. However, CAR T-cell therapy is a game-changing treatment for many patients.
‘So far, some patients who have undergone this treatment have shown a rapid and durable regression and remission that we haven’t observed in other recognised treatments.
‘This is a “first of a kind” therapy and is a big moment for the treatment of cancer.
‘CAR T-cell therapy has the potential to revolutionise the approach to cancer treatment moving forward.’
CAR T-Cell (Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell) therapy uses a patient’s own T-cells to seek and destroy cancer cells – without the use of drugs.
Referred to by many as the ‘5th pillar of cancer treatment’ – following surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and targeted therapies – it brings renewed hope to both patients and the medical world alike, and offers a glimpse of what treatment could look like for multiple tumour types in the future.