Some patients given the injection have survived for three years and doctors say they are effectively cured. Photo / iStock
Some patients given the injection have survived for three years and doctors say they are effectively cured. Photo / iStock
A new skin-cancer jab made from the herpes cold-sore virus has been approved in Britain.
T-VEC "teaches" the body's own immune system to attack malignant melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, which kills 2,200 UK victims a year. Many have spent long hours in the sun or on sunbeds.
Some patients given the injection have survived for three years and doctors say they are effectively cured.
In a 436-patient trial at Oxford University and London's Institute of Cancer Research, 16 per cent were still alive six months after the jab compared to just two per cent who only had chemotherapy.
T-VEC was approved for UK use by the European Medicines Agency yesterday, but only in trials, privately or on insurance. It will be assessed for NHS use next year.
