A breakthrough drug for ovarian cancer that is both kinder to the body and extends survival is now available on the NHS - because apparently the universe decided to give some good news for a change.
The drug, called mirvetuximab soravtansine, is described as a "biological missile," which sounds alarming until you learn it delivers chemotherapy directly to cancerous tissue rather than blasting the entire body, thus reducing the kind of side-effects that make chemo feel like a medieval punishment.
Patricia Hill, 64, said the treatment allowed her to do things like visit family and go to the theatre - activities that were impossible on conventional chemotherapy, which tends to make you feel less like attending a show and more like starring in a tragedy. Up to 400 patients a year in England could benefit from this new treatment, the first for hard-to-treat ovarian cancer in 20 years. There are nearly 7,750 cases of ovarian cancer in the UK each year, so that's roughly 5% of patients getting a significant upgrade.
Patricia, from north London, was diagnosed in 2023 and endured multiple rounds of chemotherapy before starting mirvetuximab in January this year. She said the difference was like night and day, and the therapy had given her "a lot of my life back." She felt less tired and sick than with standard chemo, so naturally she felt "a lot better" and describes the drug as a "bit of a game changer."
The new drug has allowed her to see shows in London's West End, dine out, attend the Chelsea Flower Show, and visit family in Ireland. "It actually opens up a lot of possibilities - you can actually go and do a lot more than you would normally do," she said, which is precisely the point of not poisoning yourself indiscriminately.
Mirvetuximab extends lives too - from 12.8 months on chemotherapy to 16.5 months on the therapy, on average. But crucially, it improves quality of life: fewer side-effects, women can keep their hair, and it's given by drip every three weeks instead of weekly with conventional chemo. The drug is an advanced form of chemotherapy that hits cancer with a bigger dose while reducing side-effects - a neat trick that involves fusing a deadly chemo drug to an antibody, similar to the ones your body uses to fight infections. These antibodies are designed to spot markings called folate receptor alpha on the outside of some ovarian cancer cells, travel to them, stick on, get absorbed, and then release their toxic payload. It's also called a "Trojan horse" therapy, after the Greek myth, because nothing says "medical breakthrough" like a reference to a giant wooden horse full of soldiers.
About 30-40% of cancers that don't respond to chemotherapy have these markings. Jenny Green, 71 from Hertfordshire, was diagnosed in 2017 and participated in the clinical trials. "I seem to have tolerated it very well, with hardly any side effects at all. That's been amazing!" she said. "I had a scan that showed my cancer nodules were shrinking, and my bloods were coming back into range - which is all pretty good to hear."
The drug has been approved by the medicines watchdog NICE for ovarian, peritoneal, and fallopian tube cancer if chemotherapy no longer works and the cancers have the right markings. NHS England says it will pay for the drug. Wales and Northern Ireland normally follow suit, while Scotland does its own thing - because even cancer treatments can't escape devolution.
Dr Rowan Miller, who ran the clinical trials at UCLH, said she was "really excited" this drug was coming to the NHS after a 20-year search for better medications. "Finally, there's a drug that's available, that improves survival for this group of patients and in addition, the patients get on with the treatment well and find it easier to manage than standard chemotherapy," she told the BBC. Prof Ruth Plummer, NHS national clinical lead for cancer drugs, called it the "most significant breakthrough" in treating these hard-to-treat ovarian cancers "in over two decades" and said she was "delighted" it was available on the NHS.
Victoria Clare, CEO of Ovacome, the UK's ovarian cancer support charity, said: "This decision has the potential to make a real difference to those who are able to access this treatment. We are delighted."
Mirvetuximab soravtansine was developed by AbbVie, the pharmaceutical company. Rachel Downing, head of policy and external affairs at Target Ovarian Cancer, said the drug becoming available on the NHS was "a hugely important moment" for women with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer and their families, "who have faced limited effective treatment options for far too long."