Life-extending cancer drug that was denied to AA Gill gets go ahead

A drug denied to writer AA Gill by the NHS has now been approved for use on patients battling cancer.

Nivolumab will be offered to 1,300 patients with advanced lung cancer after being approved by drugs rationing body Nice.

The drug works by preventing tumour cells from disguising themselves in the body’s immune system.

Gill, who died in December, published a final column for The Times which said that his doctor was unable to give him Nivolumab because he didn’t have private health insurance.

“As yet, immunotherapy isn’t a cure, it’s a stretch more life, a considerable bit of life,” he wrote. “But only if you can pay.”

He wrote that his consultant had told his partner Nicola Formby "If he had insurance, I’d put him on immunotherapy – specifically, Nivolumab."

"As would every oncologist in the First World. But I can’t do it on the National Health."

England's drugs watchdog had originally said Nivolumab was too expensive.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has recommended nivolumab be made available to about 1,300 lung cancer patients being treated on the NHS.

The immunotherapy drug will initially be funded by the Cancer Drugs Fund, which has money set aside for treatments which aren’t yet routinely available.

Nivolumab typically costs £5,268 a month and is given intravenously in hospital every two weeks.

Manufacturer Bristol-Myers Squibb has also struck a deal to sell the drug at a discounted price, while more research is conducted on its use.

Nice hope that as long-term data becomes available within the next two years, Nivolumab will be made available to all patients with advanced lung cancer.

What is Nivolumab?

Cancer Research UK describes Nivolumab as a type of immunotherapy. This type of treatment stimulates the body’s immune system to fight cancer cells. Nivolumab targets and blocks a protein called PD-1 on the surface of certain immune cells called T-cells. Blocking PD-1 activates the T-cells to find and kill cancer cells. Patients with squamous and non-squamous advanced non-small cell lung cancer will be eligible to receive the drug, to prevent cancer-fighting immune system cells from being switched off.

How do patients take Nivolumab?

Patients receive the drug as a drip into a vein in the arm, which can take over one hour each time you it is administered.

A nurse puts a small tube (a cannula) into the arm and connects the drip to it.

How long can you take it for?

People can usually carry on having Nivolumab for as long as it works, unless it causes bad side effects.