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<p>NHS England is working with the manufacturers and National Health Service providers
to prepare the NHS to begin delivering Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell (CAR-T) therapy
- the first in a wave of treatments in a new era of personalised medicine and part
of the NHS’s long-term plan to upgrade cancer service. The first treatment that will
be available to patient is tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah) as an option for treating children
and young people up to 25 years old with B cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia that
is refractory, in relapsed post-transplant or in second or later relapse.</p><p> </p><p>NHS
England anticipates that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence will
recommend this treatment for entry into the Cancer Drugs Fund in mid-November. If
so, funding will be made immediately available, following a successful commercial
deal with the manufacturer Novartis. We anticipate the first patients will begin their
treatment in late November 2018. The phased implementation required by the manufacturer
and the NHS means that full capacity to treat eligible patients will take some months
to achieve and a National CAR-T Clinical Panel will convene in mid-November to assure
equity of access and prioritise eligible patients.</p>
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