Health Trial gives hope for an extended life to advanced cancer patients

MEN with a rare form of cancer could live longer than currently expected, following a clinical trial by University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW).

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The study looked at patients with advanced penile cancer, from 11 hospitals across England and Scotland, and offered them a medicine which can harness their own immune system to help them fight the disease.

Using immunotherapy to fight cancer is still considered a relatively new treatment.

Although not all cancer patients see the benefit, this study saw more than half the participants had their predicted lifespan extended when they had immunotherapy alongside chemotherapy.

Every patient recruited on to the study had advanced penile cancer and was unable to have further treatment to cure their cancer.

While not able to cure the patient's cancer, due to its late stages, more than 60 per cent of patients who received treatment had clinical benefit from being on the study.