Hundreds more people with an aggressive form of blood cancer can now be offered hope of a cure and “a new lease of life” after NHS approval of a drug rollout.
Glofitamab (Columvi®) will be offered to around 300 people a year with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) — a form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that has returned or not responded to chemotherapy — following approval by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Patients whose cancer has returned or not responded after just one previous course of treatment can now receive glofitamab sooner; previously it was available only to those who had undergone two types of treatment.
The drug, administered by intravenous infusion every three weeks, is available from today after the NHS fast-tracked access through its Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF), which provides quicker access to innovative cancer therapies while more real-world data are collected.
Clinical trials showed almost six in ten people with late-stage DLBCL achieved complete remission after a course of glofitamab in combination with chemotherapy. Trial data also indicated that glofitamab plus chemotherapy significantly increased survival and delayed disease progression compared with a current standard treatment (R-GemOx). After two years in the trial, 54% of people treated with glofitamab were alive versus 34% receiving the standard treatment.
Patient story
Chris Brown, 70, a retired inland waterways captain from Northumberland, was treated with glofitamab after a stage 4 diagnosis and has been in complete remission since February. He said: “I’ll be forever grateful to the NHS for giving me access to this treatment. The care I received at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle was exceptional, and I was genuinely stunned by how effective the treatment was. I never imagined I’d hear the words ‘complete remission’ after a stage 4 diagnosis, but in February that’s exactly what I was told. It gave me a new lease of life — I’ve been able to enjoy things I thought were lost to me, like spending the summer boating with my family in Sweden. I am so pleased to hear that the glofit treatment is going to be available for people after only one previous treatment. Congratulations to all involved in bringing this wonderful course of treatment to the NHS.”
Expert reaction
Professor Peter Johnson, NHS England’s National Clinical Director for Cancer, said: “Antibodies such as glofitamab that harness the power of the immune system to target lymphoma are transforming the way people are treated and helping to boost the number of people cured. This is excellent news for patients with this aggressive form of blood cancer, with the NHS fast-tracking this cutting-edge treatment so that more people can benefit. It’s already changing lives, with people like Chris able to enjoy more precious time with their families.”
Dr Wendy Osborne, Consultant Haematologist at The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and part of the team who treated Chris, said: “The availability of glofitamab has made such a huge difference for many patients, like Chris, and I’m so pleased that it will now be available to hundreds more patients earlier in their cancer. I have patients alive now who would have sadly died from high grade lymphoma if treatments like this had not been fast tracked by the Cancer Drugs Fund — it is such a vital part of the NHS’s cancer care.”
About the Cancer Drugs Fund
The CDF, in its current form since July 2016, is used by NHS England to provide fast-tracked access to new cancer treatments approved by NICE and to enable managed access to promising treatments that need more real-world data before a long-term NHS decision. The CDF now helps around 1,000 patients every month to access new treatments faster, with more than 108,000 patients accessing the latest cancer medicines on the NHS since July 2016. Over 300 cancer treatment approvals have been fast-tracked via the CDF, with 50 new options added in the past 18 months.
Background / trial data
Around 5,500 people are diagnosed with DLBCL each year in England; it mainly affects men aged 65 and over and commonly presents with painless gland swellings. The STARGLO trial (24-month follow-up) found patients treated with glofitamab plus GemOx had an approximately 42% lower risk of death and around a 59% lower risk of disease progression over two years compared with those given rituximab plus GemOx, meaning more people were alive and progression-free at two years on the glofitamab regimen.
Further clinical trial data: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12332916/
