Overview
- People aged 26 and over with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia will be eligible, receiving two intravenous doses 10 days apart at specialist CAR-T centres in England.
- Access will be accelerated using interim Cancer Drugs Fund support, with delivery through existing centres and plans to increase treatment sites through 2026–27.
- In trials, 77% of patients achieved remission and about half of those had no detectable cancer at three and a half years, with an average 15.6 additional months of life reported.
- Clinical evaluations report lower toxicity than some earlier CAR-T therapies, including reduced risk of severe cytokine release syndrome and potential for outpatient administration.
- The UK-developed therapy was created by UCL spinout Autolus and will be manufactured in Stevenage, with NHS and patient charities calling the decision a significant advance for a small but high-need group estimated at around 50 patients per year in England.