Blood cancer patient 'feels so alive' after clinical trial

Adele Adams was diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2016

A blood cancer patient who has taken part in a clinical trial of a new drug has said she feels "so alive" after "one of the easiest treatments" she has had.

The drug, which is being trialled at The Christie Hospital in Manchester, is so new it does not have a name yet.

Adele Adams, 59, from Wallasey, Merseyside, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in February 2016, said she was "in the happiest place I've been in a long time".

The Christie said the drug could be a "game-changer in the fight against lymphoma".

Ms Adams had already endured 10 different types of chemotherapy over six years.

Twice she was told by doctors there was nothing more they could do for her.

She agreed to take part in the early phase clinical trial and started her first treatment in September 2022.

She said this new drug had given her hope, adding: "Straight away, I could feel a difference, I'm in the happiest place I've been in a long time.

"I feel so alive, it's unbelievable."

The trial is taking place at the Christie Hospital in Manchester

Some 15,000 people die from blood cancer every year in the UK.

The new drug, known only as NX-5948, is being trialled for patients with B-cell lymphoma, where disease has come back after previous treatment - or if they have stopped responding to treatment.

It is designed to eliminate lymphoma from cancerous cells by degrading a critical growth protein.

The drug works differently to some other treatments which block that same protein.

'Cautiously optimistic'

Ms Adams said: "With the old chemotherapy, I was in so much pain.

"I was losing all my hair, my teeth and my nails.

"I was getting so many infections, whereas now, there's just none of that, it's just amazing."

Dr Kim Linton, consultant oncologist at The Christie said: "This trial will determine if the drug can be tolerated by the patient and what the highest safe dose is.

"The results we’re seeing make us cautiously optimistic that we have found a new way to treat patients with difficult to treat B cell lymphomas.

"We still have a lot of work to do but potentially this could be a game-changer in the fight against lymphoma.”

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