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Cancer sufferers given untested drugs - UK
Cancer sufferers given untested drugs - UK
* w w w .telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/21/ncancer121.xml
Cancer sufferers given untested drugs - UK
By Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter
Last Updated: 1:55am GMT 22/03/2008
Terminally-ill cancer patients are being used as human guinea pigs to test
experimental drugs which may give them one last chance of beating the
disease.
The Department of Health has given its approval to a new hospital unit
where patients who have no other hope of a cure can agree to take drugs
which might be 10 years away from being approved.
The unit at Barts Hospital in London is the first of a proposed network of
19 such centres around the country.
advertisement
Although testing drugs on humans at such an early stage of their
development raises complex ethical issues, patients are said to be
“desperate” to take part in the trials.
Doctors hope to be able to fast-track new cancer drugs by finding out
straight away whether they are having any effect on the disease.
They are aiming to halve the 10-year period it currently takes to develop
a drug.
Professor John Gribben, the head of the research unit at Barts, said: “We
no longer have to wait to complete a study to see what happens to the
cancer.
“We can get a very early clue on whether the drug is doing what we want it
to do. If it isn’t, we can get the patient off the study, so they are not
being exposed to the potential toxicity of the drug.”
Blood samples from patients being given new drugs are sent off to an
in-house laboratory for analysis and the results come back the same day,
giving the research team an early indication whether the chemical is
having any postive effect.
The unit is jointly funded by the Department of Health and the charity
Cancer Research UK, but with a total budget of £400,000 a year, the plan
for 18 more centres is desperately short of cash.
The centres will pool patients to speed up the research.
Prof Gribben said ethical approval has been given to the programme only
because the patients involved are no longer responding to conventional
medicines and have no other hope of recovery.
He added that patients are only given a tiny dose of a drug to begin with,
which is then increased if the drug appears to be helping.
Jill Bracey-Cowley, who was diagnosed with the bone marrow cancer multiple
myeloma eight years ago, is being given a secret new drug which targets
cancer proteins.
It is so experimental that scientists will not even reveal its code-name.
Mrs Bracey-Cowley said: “My grandchildren have been born since I was
diagnosed. I wouldn’t have known them. I’m very happy that I can come here
and have this treatment and then go and see them. It’s wonderful.”
* w w w .telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/21/ncancer121.xml
Cancer sufferers given untested drugs - UK
By Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter
Last Updated: 1:55am GMT 22/03/2008
Terminally-ill cancer patients are being used as human guinea pigs to test
experimental drugs which may give them one last chance of beating the
disease.
The Department of Health has given its approval to a new hospital unit
where patients who have no other hope of a cure can agree to take drugs
which might be 10 years away from being approved.
The unit at Barts Hospital in London is the first of a proposed network of
19 such centres around the country.
advertisement
Although testing drugs on humans at such an early stage of their
development raises complex ethical issues, patients are said to be
“desperate” to take part in the trials.
Doctors hope to be able to fast-track new cancer drugs by finding out
straight away whether they are having any effect on the disease.
They are aiming to halve the 10-year period it currently takes to develop
a drug.
Professor John Gribben, the head of the research unit at Barts, said: “We
no longer have to wait to complete a study to see what happens to the
cancer.
“We can get a very early clue on whether the drug is doing what we want it
to do. If it isn’t, we can get the patient off the study, so they are not
being exposed to the potential toxicity of the drug.”
Blood samples from patients being given new drugs are sent off to an
in-house laboratory for analysis and the results come back the same day,
giving the research team an early indication whether the chemical is
having any postive effect.
The unit is jointly funded by the Department of Health and the charity
Cancer Research UK, but with a total budget of £400,000 a year, the plan
for 18 more centres is desperately short of cash.
The centres will pool patients to speed up the research.
Prof Gribben said ethical approval has been given to the programme only
because the patients involved are no longer responding to conventional
medicines and have no other hope of recovery.
He added that patients are only given a tiny dose of a drug to begin with,
which is then increased if the drug appears to be helping.
Jill Bracey-Cowley, who was diagnosed with the bone marrow cancer multiple
myeloma eight years ago, is being given a secret new drug which targets
cancer proteins.
It is so experimental that scientists will not even reveal its code-name.
Mrs Bracey-Cowley said: “My grandchildren have been born since I was
diagnosed. I wouldn’t have known them. I’m very happy that I can come here
and have this treatment and then go and see them. It’s wonderful.”
