{"id":9184,"date":"2025-07-22T22:38:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T22:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inhealthyzone.com\/?p=9184"},"modified":"2025-07-22T22:38:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T22:38:25","slug":"dad-with-deadly-brain-cancer-that-kills-in-a-year-is-cancer-free-after-taking-new-drug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inhealthyzone.com\/?p=9184","title":{"rendered":"Dad with deadly brain cancer that kills in a year is cancer free after taking new drug"},"content":{"rendered":"

A breakthrough drug is fighting brain cancer head-on.<\/p>\n

Glioblastoma is widely considered the deadliest form of brain cancer, killing over 10,000 Americans each year. There is no cure for the highly aggressive disease \u2014 many patients survive just nine months after diagnosis.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Ben Trotman was diagnosed with glioblastoma in October 2022 at 40.
Marie Mangan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Treatment focuses on managing symptoms and extending life via surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible and radiation therapy and chemotherapy to destroy cancer cells.<\/p>\n

Now, researchers from University College London Hospitals are recruiting glioblastoma patients for a trial of the immunotherapy drug ipilimumab. Sold under the brand name Yervoy, the monoclonal antibody stimulates the immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells.<\/p>\n

Oncologists are optimistic since a UK father shows no signs of having a tumor after he took ipilimumab before his glioblastoma treatment.<\/p>\n

Ben Trotman was diagnosed with glioblastoma in October 2022 at 40.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe crucial element of this trial is that patients will have their immune system boosted by the drug before they have any other treatment, when they are fit and well enough to tolerate the immunotherapy,\u201d said Dr. Paul Mulholland, the consultant medical oncologist leading the trial.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw with Ben, the one patient recruited to the immunotherapy study, NeAT-GLIO, that he has had clear scans since having the treatment and the tumor hasn\u2019t returned more than two and a half years later.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trotman met with Mulholland, who enrolled him in a clinical trial for ipilimumab. He was the first patient in the world \u2014 and the only person in the trial \u2014 to take the drug before glioblastoma treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting this diagnosis was the most traumatic experience,\u201d said Trotman\u2019s wife, Emily.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were grappling with the fact that Ben had gone from being apparently perfectly healthy to having months to live.\u201d<\/p>\n

After taking the drug, Ben underwent radiotherapy and chemotherapy.<\/p>\n

Two years and eight months later, his scans are clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very unusual to have a clear scan with glioblastoma, especially when he didn\u2019t have the follow-up surgery that had been planned to remove all of the tumor that was initially visible on scans,\u201d Mulholland said.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Ben and Emily Trotman wed in 2023, after he began his immunotherapy treatment.
Courtesy of UCLH<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe hope that the immunotherapy and follow-up treatment Ben has had will hold his tumor at bay,\u201d he added, \u201cand it has so far, which we are delighted to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

In January 2023, months after his diagnosis, Ben married Emily. The couple welcomed a daughter, Mabel, earlier this year.<\/p>\n

They enjoy taking her for walks along with their rescue dog, Jerry.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are trying to live as normal a life as possible,\u201d Emily said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in a unique position of which there is no precedent and which comes with a great deal of uncertainty,\u201d she continued. \u201cWe want to live each day as if it were our last, but we also want to plan for the future, which we hope to have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Researchers plan to recruit 16 glioblastoma patients like Ben over 18 months.<\/p>\n

After taking ipilimumab, the trial participants will undergo radiotherapy and chemotherapy and perhaps surgery depending on the extent of their disease.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Dr. Paul Mulholland and Dame Siobhain McDonagh, who raised funds for the new clinical trial of ipilimumab.
Marie Mangan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The trial is being funded by Dame Siobhain McDonagh, a member of the British Parliament, whose sister died of glioblastoma in 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy beloved sister Margaret was appalled to discover that there had been no advances in brain cancer treatment for decades when she was diagnosed with glioblastoma,\u201d McDonagh said. \u201cChanging this was Margaret\u2019s final campaign and one that I have continued in her memory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Treatment will take place at the NIHR UCLH\u2019s Clinical Research Facility at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am delighted that this new trial, with the same immunotherapy drug I received, is going ahead and others will have the opportunity to take part,\u201d Ben said. \u201cIt will give people newly diagnosed with glioblastoma some hope.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A breakthrough drug is fighting brain cancer head-on. Glioblastoma is widely considered the deadliest form of brain cancer, killing over 10,000 Americans each year. There is no cure for the highly aggressive disease \u2014 many patients survive just nine months after diagnosis. 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