Blood cancer patients to receive 'Trojan horse' drug in world first

Thousands of patients in England with blood cancer are to become the first in the world to be offered a pioneering "Trojan horse" drug that sneaks inside cancer cells before wiping them out.

- Andrew Gregory

In guidance published today, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) gave the green light to belantamab mafodotin, which can halt the advance of multiple myeloma for three times as long as standard treatments.

The targeted therapy, given as an infusion every three weeks with other cancer drugs, is a special type of antibody drug that targets and attaches to cancer cells. It works by being taken into a cancer cell, before unleashing a high concentration of a lethal molecule to destroy the cell from inside.

Prof Peter Johnson, NHS England's national clinical director for cancer, said the drug would be "life-changing" for patients and their families.

"Myeloma is an aggressive type of blood cancer, but we have seen a steady improvement in the outlook for patients over recent years as we have introduced new targeted therapies.