UK woman becomes first to receive pioneering new cancer therapy

Family handout/PA Wire

By Jane Kirby, PA Media

A woman with advanced ovarian cancer has become the first patient in the world to receive a pioneering new therapy.

Tracy Tomlinson, 58, was given the drug at the Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester as part of a clinical trial evaluating a new type of treatment for several types of cancer.

The therapy, known as ZI-MA4-1, will be tested on people with ovarian cancer, lung cancer, sarcomas and head and neck cancer

She had previously been through rounds of treatment and 48 chemotherapy treatment, but her cancer kept coming back. Doctors hope this new therapy, which has been described as a "novel approach" to treatment, will help develop more options and improve outcomes for patients.

The therapy, known as ZI-MA4-1, will be tested on people with ovarian cancer, lung cancer, sarcomas and head and neck cancer in a trial led by the Christie, with a site also at the Royal Marsden in London.