We are on the cusp of a cure
Dr Paul Mulholland
The treatment approach for glioblastoma has not changed for decades, so outcomes remain dismal. But there is another way.
There are drugs that are being used every day around the world to treat and cure other cancers. We can use these drugs, and in particular immunotherapy, to help treat glioblastoma.
We have seen the ongoing success with Ben Trotman and Professor Richard Scolyer after their treatment with immunotherapy. The big difference with Ben and Richard is that they were treated with
immunotherapy before embarking on other treatments. The time before those treatments is when the body is able to generate an immune response to fight the tumour.
This approach works but we need to run more trials to prove it to the world. That means drugs from the pharmaceutical industry and money. Hence this dinner tonight and the fundraising efforts started by Margaret and continued by Siobhain.
As soon as we satisfy the regulatory authorities, treatment can then be rolled out to save the lives of people diagnosed with the illness that took Margaret from us.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you. We can win Margaret’s final campaign.
The Glioblastoma Campaign has five steps to finding a cure
A target of getting 200 glioblastoma patients into clinical trials each year on a drug that has the potential to change the course of the disease.
The NHS must work towards delivering clinical trial options to patients with drugs that are aimed to change the natural history of glioblastoma.
The pharmaceutical industry should recognise their responsibility to support glioblastoma and other left-behind cancers by making their drugs available for clinical trials.
The NHS should ensure that every neuro-oncology multidisciplinary team has a medical oncologist who is a core member and is required to attend meetings to discuss patients. Brain tumour patients must not be left in a corner of the ward, there must be specialists arguing for them.
The NHS should require that every doctor training to be a medical oncologist should go through mandatory training in medical oncology specific to primary brain cancer.