Tuesday 19 March 2024

A woman from Wallasey in Merseyside with Non Hodgkin’s lymphoma, who has only previously been in remission for a month in the past eight years, is enjoying life thanks to daily trial drug capsules which have cleared her of cancer.

The drug, which is known as NX-5948, is so new it doesn’t have a name, and could be a game-changer in the fight against lymphoma. It is being trialled at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester for patients with B-cell lymphoma* whose disease has come back after previous treatment or stopped responding to treatment. Lymphoma is cancer of the lymphatic system which is part of the body’s immune system that fights infections.

Adele Adams (59), who trained as a jockey when she was a teenager, was diagnosed with stage 4 Non Hodgkin’s lymphoma in February 2016 and was put on her first course of chemotherapy.

Over a six-year-period Adele, who is originally from Leicester, endured 10 different types of chemotherapy for treatment resistant lymphoma.  Unfortunately, each stopped working after six months and another had to be found. She also underwent two courses of radiotherapy.

Despite the best efforts of doctors at her local hospital who tried to keep the cancer at bay, in 2019 Adele’s lymphoma became more aggressive and spread to multiple places in her body. Twice she was told by doctors there was nothing more they could do for her, but she refused to let the cancer beat her.

On New Year’s Eve 2020 Adele was admitted to The Christie for CAR-T therapy** and after two weeks went into 100% remission but it only lasted a month before the cancer came back.

Adele who had previously taken part in two clinical trials, was offered the chance to participate in an early phase (phase I) clinical trial at The Christie for this new drug, NX-5948 for B-cell lymphoma and CLL***, given in capsule forms. She agreed to take part in research at the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Manchester Clinical Research Facility (CRF) at The Christie and started her first treatment in September 2022. By this time she was so much better that she had started playing golf – and winning tournaments.

In August 2023 Adele picked up a chest infection and also caught COVID. By October she had become seriously ill and was admitted to a ward at The Christie for six weeks, forcing her to interrupt trial treatment. She became so unwell, and so reliant of oxygen, intensive care doctors were considering putting her in an induced coma, which they told her they didn’t expect her to wake up from. Despite losing two stone in weight, and being too weak to walk, she is now fully recovered and back on trial treatment.

Adele takes four capsules a day, increased from two, and now has monthly visits to see her doctor and scans every three months.  Her latest scan showed that she was in complete remission with no signs of cancer.

Adele Adams, who has two Dachshunds called Biscuit and Frankie said:

“I can’t believe that I’m finally rid of the disease. It’s a miracle. You couldn’t write the script! I should have died four times but thankfully I didn’t. It’s been very tough, and I really shouldn’t be here. Before starting on this trial I’d suffered sepsis twice, contracted pneumonia and my right lung collapsed at one point.

“On one occasion when I was really ill, and struggling for breath, I just wanted to go.  I’m not religious but I saw a hand reaching up to take my hand. The love I felt was so intense.  I felt so safe, frightened yet safe, if that makes sense? I wasn’t scared of dying, just of not being able to take my next breath and worried about what would happen to my dogs.

“I’ve only previously been in remission for a month in eight years, yet I feel alive. If you get offered the opportunity to go on a clinical trial, grab it with both hands.  I couldn’t walk or even stand and now I’m playing golf. I’m not scared of cancer. If it wants to fight, I say ‘game on’.  If it’s in my way I make it move.

“Unbelievably my dad had the same type of lymphoma as me for 13 years. I lost him two years ago.  He was my rock and I miss him every day. Fortunately, I’m still here, and I have to thank the exceptional care at The Christie for that.”

Adele has a passion for golf and has won three trophies. “In January I got back on the golf course for the first time since July. When I hit the golf ball I imagine I’m hitting everyone’s cancer.  That’s why I do so well,” she said.

Dr Kim Linton, Consultant Medical Oncologist at The Christie, and the Principal Investigator for the trial said:

“We’re so thrilled that there is no longer evidence of lymphoma in Adele’s body and she has had a complete response to the treatment. Indications are the disease has gone and her blood count is back to normal.

“This new trial drug is designed to eliminate lymphoma from cells by degrading a critical growth protein. It works differently to licensed treatments that block the same protein. Some lymphomas develop resistance to the licensed drugs, which this new drug can overcome. Adele is on the dose escalation part of the trial and has doubled the dose since starting.

“This trial isn’t just about testing how well the treatment works on B-cell lymphomas. In this part of the trial we will determine if it’s safe and can be tolerated by the patient, and work out what the highest safe dose is. Given it’s at such as early stage of development, the results we’re seeing are impressive and 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.”

This commercial clinical trial is funded by Nurix Therapeutics. It is recruiting patients at several hospitals in the UK and abroad.

Any patients interested in taking part in clinical trials should discuss this option with their consultant or GP. Not all patients will fit the criteria for a specific trial. While clinical trials can be successful for some patients, outcomes can vary from case to case. More information about taking part in clinical trials can be found here.

*B-cell lymphoma is a group of cancers that form in the B-cells which form part of the immune system.

** CAR-T is a form of immunotherapy which involves collecting and engineering the patients’ own T cells (also part of the immune system) immune cells to treat their condition.

***CLL or chronic lymphocytic leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood and bone marrow.