A HAIRDRESSER diagnosed with lung cancer after suffering back pain has told how her tumour reduced by 60 per cent thanks to a new drug now available on the NHS for the first time.
Michelle Hanlon celebrated her 30th birthday by having her first oncology appointment after X-rays revealed the disease in her lungs and spine last December. The Glasgow woman, who has never smoked, initially thought her back pain was caused by long days on her feet in the salon and suffered chemotherapy side effects so acute she was taken into hospital on Boxing Day.
Now she is planning festive celebrations after new drug nivolumab reduced her tumour by 60 per cent.
Her health has improved so much she has been able to return to work at her dad’s West End salon, Hair by Hanlon, part time and recently flew out for a family holiday in Spain.
She told The National: “Cancer was the furthest thing from my mind, because I’ve never smoked and I’m so young.
“Chemotherapy was like an out-of-body experience for five days afterwards. I had a terrible rash, nausea, headaches. I feel great now – I almost feel like a fraud because people would never know what was going on inside to look at me.
“This has turned me from being a patient to being a person again.”
Michelle, who received the treatment through private medical insurance, spoke out as the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) approved the life-extending drug, also known as Opdivo, for use against the most common form of advanced lung cancer on the NHS.
The decision makes Scotland the first part of the UK to make the treatment available for those with non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer.
Around 5,300 people in Scotland were diagnosed with the disease in 2014 and it claimed 4,100 lives that year – more than breast, colorectal and prostate cancers combined.
Most lung cancer patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage and the prognosis for survival in these patients is poor, with only 10 per cent of patients with the condition surviving five years or more.
Nivolumab, delivered through an intravenous drip, uses the immune system to fight the disease, extending the typical eight-month life expectancy by three months, and is also effective against forms of kidney and skin cancer.
Michelle saw improvement in her condition after three treatments, and continues receiving the drip every two weeks. She is unsure what the future holds and will continue taking the medication for as long as possible.
Dr Brian Clark, consultant clinical oncologist at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre, said: “Today’s decision marks a significant leap for the treatment of lung cancer in Scotland. Immunotherapy is one of the most important advances in lung cancer treatment in the last decade. The SMC’s decision is extremely welcome news and gives many Scottish patients hope to benefit from this treatment on the NHS.”
Benjamin Hickey, of pharmaceutical firm Bristol-Myers Squibb, the company behind nivolumab, said: “The SMC has recognised that lung cancer patients are in urgent need of a new treatment option that has the potential to help them live longer and give them more time with their families.
“However, because the NICE process has been ongoing for many months, NHS patients in England, Northern Ireland and Wales face the desperately unfair situation of not having the same access to nivolumab treatment as those across the border in Scotland. We are exploring all possible options in order to resolve this disparity as soon as possible.”
Meanwhile, the SMC has also approved four other new medicines, including a lenvatinib, also known as Lenvima, for advanced thyroid cancer and Aflibercept (Eylea), which helps slow a severe type of visual impairment which can lead to sight loss.
An alternative treatment for ulcerative colitis known as Budesonide, or Cortiment, has also been accepted, as has progesterone (Lutigest), which supports infertility treatment.
SMC chairman Professor Jonathan Fox said he is “pleased” the committee could accept all five medicines and the cancer drugs “may offer patients improved survival with a better quality of life”.
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