Leukaemia sufferer, 11, is the first NHS patient to receive a revolutionary cancer treatment

Leukaemia sufferer, 11, is the first NHS patient to receive a revolutionary cancer treatment An 11-year-old boy is the first to receive a pioneering cancer therapy that uses the body's own immune system to fight his leukaemia on the NHS.

Yuvan Thakkar, from Watford, was given Kymriah - a type of immunotherapy called CAR-T cell therapy - at Great Ormond Street Hospital last week. The youngster was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in 2014, which is curable via chemo in around 90 per cent of children sufferers.

But after Yuvan's cancer failed to respond to two rounds of chemo and a bone marrow transplant, CAR-T is his 'last hope'. Kymriah - also known as tisagenlecleucel - was approved for Yuvan after NHS England struck a deal with Novartis, the pharma giant behind the drug, to offer it at a reduced price. Mail Online



See Also:

• First child given pioneering CAR-T cancer therapy BBC News - Health