Cancer patient 'first in UK' to get prostate drug
BBCA prostate cancer patient hopes a new treatment can help prolong the lives of thousands of men with the same condition.
Brian Holmes, from Callington, Cornwall, has become the first person in the UK and fifth in the world to receive a drug which combines antibodies with chemotherapy to deliver the treatment directly to wherever the cancer is.
Holmes, who has advanced prostate cancer, had been receiving other treatments for three years before being given the drug at Plymouth's Derriford Hospital as part of a clinical trial.
The 70-year-old said he was "chuffed" to be the first person in the country to get the treatment.
"Hopefully it will not only prolong my life by a couple of years - although 10 would be great and 20 would be magnificent - but also the many tens and hundreds of thousands of chaps around the world that have the same condition," Holmes added.
Derriford Hospital said the name of the drug and its manufacturer cannot be named due to research protocols.
Doctors said the drug had proven to be effective previously against breast and bladder cancer.
They added more trials for the treatment of prostate patients were set to follow in Cambridge and London.
Dr Dominique Parslow, consultant clinical oncologist at Derriford Hospital, said the drug could be a positive step for patients.
Parslow said: "Many patients once they've exhausted lines of treatment are keen to explore clinical trial opportunities.
"Not only for the hope that it will benefit themselves but also for the hope that we might be stumbling across a new treatment that can help lots of people."
Doctors at Derriford said they expected to recruit more patients for the trial over the next couple of years.
