First immunotherapy on NHS for aggressive stomach cancer

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By Olivia Bowthorpe

The first immunotherapy for a form of aggressive stomach cancer will be available on the NHS after NICE recommended the treatment.

More than 1,500 patients a year with operable gastric and gastro-oesophageal junction cancers are expected to be eligible for durvalumab, which will be given with standard chemotherapy and surgery.

Clinical trial data shows that adding durvalumab to perioperative chemotherapy can extend progression-free survival. Patients on durvalumab also showed higher three-year survival rates.

The decision was hailed as the “first major advance” in stomach cancer treatment for nearly a decade.

The drug, known as Imfinzi and made by AstraZeneca, is recommended for adults whose cancer has not spread extensively and can be removed surgically.

It is to be used before and after surgery, and then alone afterwards, in combination with FLOT chemotherapy.

'Devastating disease'

The drug works by blocking the PD-L1 protein, which cancer cells use to prevent detection by the immune system.