Newcastle professor says 'crucial' new drug brings hope to people with incurable blood cancer

A leading Tyneside professor has explained how an innovative cancer drug can bring new hope to patients with incurable disease.

Prof Graham Jackson is a consultant haematologist working across Newcastle University and Newcastle Hospitals. He is also the chief clinical and scientific advisor to national charity Myeloma UK.

Prof Jackson has been involved in trials of the drug - known as selinexor, or its brand name Nexpovio - and welcomed news that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has approved its use. Myeloma is one of the most common forms of blood cancer in the UK, with over 4,500 new patients diagnosed each year.

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Unfortunately, for a majority of people the cancer is incurable - though almost half live for at least five years after diagnosis thanks to a range of treatments. This new drug - manufactured by firm Menarini Stemline UK - can be given to patients where their cancer has previously grown resistant to live-prolonging medication.

Prof Jackson said the drug was approved to be given alongside those previous treatments, and explained that it's great benefit is that it counter-acts the resistance developed by someone's cancer. He told ChronicleLive: "It's a really important additional treatment.

"Myeloma is a diagnosis we can treat and keep at bay for a significant period of time, but it's incurable and patients inevitably succumb to it. This new drug has a new 'mode of action'. As you treat myeloma, the disease is unfortunately very clever and learns how to resist the treatments. This new drug counter-acts that, that's crucial.

"Basically what this does is reprogramme the myeloma so that you can re-use previous treatments. The lovely thing is that you can use it at multiple points in the patient pathway."

He said this flexibiity meant it would be gamechanging for how medics planned a patient's treatment, and said the new drug's approval was a testament t the research done in Newcastle and further afield about how cancers develop drug resistance.

Shelagh McKinlay, director of research and advocacy at Myeloma UK, added: "This is a hard-earned victory for everyone involved and a major step in the right direction for the myeloma community. This treatment’s novel mechanism of action means it can help fight myeloma in a completely different way to other currently available treatments.

"Until we have a cure, it is absolutely vital that all patients are given as many options to tackle their cancer as possible – no matter where they are on their treatment journey."

Rick Coope, general manager at Menarini Stemline, added the announcement was a significant milestone, and said it "shows what is possible with true collaboration between industry, NICE and the myeloma patient and physician community".