A man with a common form of leukaemia has become the first patient to receive a pioneering new treatment on the NHS after it was approved for use against his form of the disease.
Oscar Murphy, 28, has described being given the 'living drug', which is made from a genetically modified version of his own immune cells, as 'fantastic... very sci-fi'.
The treatment, called CAR-T therapy and also known as 'obe-cel' - involves taking a patient's immune cells and reprogramming them in a lab to identify and target a specific type of cancer, before returning them to the body as 'living medicine'.
Mr Murphy has B-cell ALL (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia), a fast-growing blood cancer where the bone marrow produces too many immature B-cells (blasts) that can't fight infection, crowding out healthy cells.
B-cell ALL is the most common type of ALL, with symptoms often including fatigue, frequent infections, and easily bruising. It is most commonly diagnosed in children.
CAR-T therapy has been available on the NHS for several years for certain types of leukaemia and lymphoma but has only now been extended to adults with B-cell ALL - and Mr Murphy was the first patient to benefit from it outside of a clinical trial.
Mr Murphy was first administered the drug on January 2 at Manchester Royal Infirmary, one of the specialist centres selected by NHS England chiefs to administer the treatment, and had his second and final dose on Monday.
Eligible patients receive two doses of CAR-T therapy intravenously, ten days apart.
It is estimated that around 50 patients will benefit from the treatment every year, which was described by one boss as 'hope for a cure'.
In a clinical trial, 77 per cent of patients went into remission after treatment, with half showing no signs of cancer after three and a half years.
And on average, the treatment gave patients 15.6 additional months of life.
Professor Peter Johnson, NHS National Clinical Director for Cancer, previously enthused about the effect of the treatment on ALL, saying: 'This cutting-edge therapy has shown real promise in trials and could give patients with this aggressive form of leukaemia a chance to live free from cancer for longer - and, for some, it could offer the hope of a cure.'
Mr Murphy was diagnosed with B-cell ALL in March 2025 and underwent chemotherapy and a donor stem cell transplant in July.
However, in November the car salesman from Bury was told that his cancer had returned.
'The leukaemia I've got is so fast-acting.
'It needs an even quicker response to stop it. And we've now got an answer for that.'
CAR-T therapy has been heralded as a 'real hope' for curing certain types of cancer
Treatment to cure Leukaemia is given NHS approval - offering hope to Brits and their families
'It's very sci-fi, but if it means it gets rid of the cancer permanently and my own cells can do it it's just fantastic.'
Last month, Mr Murphy had a type of white blood cell called T cells, which are part of the body's immune system, removed and sent to a lab in Stevenage.
The cells were then spliced with a harmless virus and reprogrammed with a genetic sequence which allows them to identify, and latch on to, cancer.
Technically the new cells are 'chimeric antigen receptor T-cells' - or CAR-T-cells - and scientists make millions of copies of them under laboratory conditions.
Once reintroduced to the body, the CAR-T cells destroy the cancer they were programmed to attack.
After 100 million of Mr Murphy's CAR-T cells had been cultivated, the living drug was frozen and sent to medics in Manchester, in the form of just three teaspoon's worth of liquid.
After being prepared, it took just a few minutes for them to be infused into his bloodstream - and get to work.
The treatment will be offered to people aged 26 and over living with B-cell ALL which has returned or not responded to previous treatment, following approval from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
Patients from Wales and Northern Ireland will need to travel to England for treatment. It has not yet been approved in Scotland.
Mr Murphy's haematologist, Dr Eleni Tholouli, said: 'Usually, this type of leukaemia is very aggressive and adult patients don't live beyond six to eight months. With this therapy, we are able to offer them years and potentially a cure.
'It's very significant and is revolutionising the way we tackle this cancer.'