Roche’s Lunsumio is under review in the UK.
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)A grandfather from Southern California, aged 49, was terminally ill from follicular lymphoma, a type of cancer that affects the network of vessels and glands in the body.
However, after using a drug recently approved by the United States’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Juan Yee claims his cancer has been cured.
He started taking the drug, Mosunetuzumab, sold under the brand name Lunsumio, after his cancer returned for the third time and doctors told him he had to go through chemotherapy once more.
When Mr Yee refused to restart chemotherapy treatments and asked how long he had left to live, he told ABC 7 that they told him he could have about a year.
Yee added: ”My wife didn’t even know I was going through cancer again. I didn’t tell anybody.”
After meeting other doctors, he found out that his cancer would not go into remission and would return even if he agreed to chemotherapy.
It was after these revelations that Mr Yee joined the trial stage of the new drug.
The drug, Lunsumio, has been described as an agent that helps put “a pair of glasses” on the body’s dysfunctional T-cells. This, in return, is thought to help them identify the body’s own lymphoma cells versus the cancerous ones.
Talking about the side-effects, Mr Yee said they were minimal, especially compared to chemotherapy.
The trial he was a part of led to the recent FDA approval, allowing cancer patients who have completed two rounds of therapy to be given it.
Sharing how thankful he is to be cured by the new drug, Mr Yee shared: “I wouldn’t have a chance to see my grandson if I had given up. Cancer is not the same any more. Don’t give up. There’s always something there to help you.”
Lunsumio is also authorised for use in the European Union for those who do not respond to or have relapsed after at least two previous cancer treatments.
Within the UK, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has listed the drug’s status as “in progress”, with committee meetings set to take part around springtime, and a decision being published in June 2023.
