This week, at the 17th World Conference on Lung Cancer, US drug company Merck announced that its new cancer treatment Keytruda (also known as Pembrolizumab) has shown positive clinical outcomes in difficult to treat cancers such as lung cancer and mesothelioma.[i]
Keytruda is an immunotherapy treatment for cancers which have spread or cannot be removed by surgery. It acts by targeting and blocking a protein called PD-1 on natural T killer cells within the body. This triggers the T cells to locate and attack cancer cells.
We have now started to see claims for the private cost of Keytruda treatment in mesothelioma claims, typically at around £70,000.
In a future feature we look at this new treatment in detail. Does it have any clinical benefit in the treatment of asbestos related lung cancer and / or mesothelioma? What are its costs? What are the typical outcomes of treatment and how can quantum overall be affected by such outcomes? What must a claimant prove in any claim for private medical treatment of this type?
[i] N.J. Kenilworth, ‘Updated KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab) Data in Small Cell Lung Cancer and Mesothelioma Presented at 17th World Conference on Lung Cancer’ (Business Wire 6 December 2016)< http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161206005400/en/Updated-KEYTRUDA%C2%AE-pembrolizumab-Data-Small-Cell-Lung> accessed 9 December 2016.