NZ Blood Service looking for more from Gen Z to donate
Gisborne-East Coast Cancer Society is appreciative of the work of the New Zealand Blood Service,
This week is National Blood Donor Week (June 9 to 15) and the New Zealand Blood Service (NZBS) is keen to recover from the significant drop in the number of youth donors on its registry
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Scoop
03-07-2025
- Scoop
Project Aims To Bring Cutting-Edge Cancer Treatments To NZ
Plans are under way to bring life-saving cell-based cancer treatments to patients in New Zealand. Dr Alicia Didsbury from the University of Auckland's Centre for Cancer Research is leading a major project aiming to provide cell and gene therapies for cancer. The project is supported by the New Zealand Blood Service and doctors at Auckland City Hospital. Didsbury is applying for $1.4 million for the first phase of the project, which will offer virus-specific T-cell therapy for people with blood cancers who are undergoing treatments that lower their immunity. Virus-specific T-cells fight viruses more effectively and with fewer side effects than antiviral medications, which are currently used widely. The aim is for the first phase to begin later this year, establishing the country's first facility to manufacture virus-specific T-cells and a local biobank of T-cells. From there, the plan is to launch New Zealand's first clinical trials of cell-based treatments for a broad range of blood cancers and solid tumour cancers over the next few years. 'Cell-based therapies are the most advanced and promising treatments for cancer," says Didsbury, who is an immunologist, committee chair at the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy, and a trustee for Ovarian Cancer Foundation NZ. 'At the moment, access to cellular therapies is extremely limited in New Zealand, so some patients go overseas and have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for these life-saving treatments.' Blood-cancer patients who receive stem-cell transplants are generally given immune suppressant medication to prevent complications. This can leave patients vulnerable to potentially life-threatening viral infections. New Zealand currently imports a small number of virus-specific T-cells, but these are expensive and not always a good match for Māori and Pacific populations, says Didsbury. 'By manufacturing virus-specific T-cells here in Auckland, we can create more affordable and better-matched therapies using local donor cells,' says Didsbury. 'For some people undergoing transplants, this could be lifesaving." Launching a virus-specific T-cell manufacturing and treatment service in Auckland will help build the basis to launch national and international clinical trials for cell-based treatments for blood and solid tumour cancers. The second phase of the project will make experimental treatments for multiple myeloma, melanoma, ovarian and lung cancers available in New Zealand for the first time. 'I'm a strong advocate for clinical trials in cancer care. They offer hope to patients and contribute to research that brings hope to others in the future,' says Didsbury. Initially, the project will launch at Auckland Hospital, but Didsbury hopes clinical trials will later be offered throughout New Zealand. For blood cancers, cell-based therapies show remarkable results. For solid tumours, cellular treatments are more experimental and have only completely cured a small percentage of patients in overseas trials. CAR T-cell therapy is one of the most promising treatments that will be offered. It harnesses the natural ability of T-cells – white blood cells that normally detect and kill virus-infected cells – to target cancer. In this therapy, a patient's own T cells are collected and genetically modified in the lab to recognise and kill cancer cells. These modified cells are then infused back into the patient to fight the cancer. CAR T-cell therapy can currently cost more than $500,000 per patient, so the project will explore affordable ways to offer these treatments within the public health system. The new service also aims to offer other cell and gene-based cancer therapies, such as transgenic T-cell receptor therapy and tumour-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy. Didsbury's drive to make cancer treatments more accessible and affordable has personal roots. 'My dad passed away from cancer when I was 21 and that motivated me to pursue a career in cancer research – initially thinking I'd go into drug discovery. 'Then, in 2005, I attended a lecture from a scientist who had recently returned from Oxford who introduced me to the new idea of T-cell therapy – that was Professor Rod Dunbar. It completely changed my direction. I decided to do a PhD with him and he's still my boss at the University of Auckland's School of Biological Sciences,' she says. The 46-year-old has been developing cell-based treatments for cancer for 15 years. A breakthrough treatment she helped develop for melanoma could soon be offered in clinical trials.
RNZ News
30-06-2025
- RNZ News
The complex task of establishing fitness to stand trial
On 16 March 2020, the District Court in Auckland had its first sitting of a court dedicated exclusively to cases where issues of fitness to stand trial or insanity had been raised, and a second such court is poised to open in Gisborne in the new year. The Criminal Procedure Mentally Impaired Persons Court was co-founded by Judges Pippa Sinclair and Clare Ryan and convenes fortnightly to determine whether a criminal defendant is fit to stand trial. The court's genesis lies in the Criminal Procedure (Mentally Impaired Persons) Act of 2003, which outlines options for defendants found unfit or legally insane. These options include detention as a special patient or immediate release. The court handles cases involving defendants with severe mental health issues, such as delusions and hallucinations, and seeks to ensure they receive appropriate care and support. But the process is far from straightforward. Last year 185 people, charged with 729 offences were deemed unfit to stand trial. Judge Pippa Sinclair discusses with Kathryn Ryan. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
RNZ News
25-06-2025
- RNZ News
Gisborne pensioner dealt with depression, chronic pain in year-long wait for surgery
It comes amid ongoing doctor shortages at Gisborne Hospital. (File photo) Photo: Liam Clayton / Gisborne Herald A Gisborne pensioner dealt with chronic pain and depression during a year-long wait for surgery for severe sinus inflammation. It came amidst ongoing doctor shortages at Gisborne Hospital. As of April, about 40 percent of senior doctor positions at the hospital were vacant. RNZ understands that Gisborne Hospital currently has just one ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist who works part time. The patient, who asked not to be named, said he had to put his life on hold as he lived for over a year with lingering pain - which he described as the feeling of after being hit in the face - as well as mucus and breath that smelt like "strong cheese and chives" due to his infection. The man said he had issues with his sinuses for 20 years, but a dental surgery that punctured his sinuses early last year left him with a severe sinus infection that did not go away. "My cheek, and up the left side of my nose and right up to - there's a small sinus above your eye as well above the left eye - that was all infected and just packed full of pus," he said. He said most nights he was not able to sleep until midnight, and sometimes would sleep in a sitting position to make breathing easier. The man's GP confirmed a first referral letter was sent last May, but it was not until October - after two follow up letters from his GP - that he got to see an ENT specialist. While initially told it would be four months wait for surgery, the man said he was later told that there was no staffing for his surgery to go ahead when he followed up with Health New Zealand (HNZ). The man said he was told in February, there were people who had been waiting for surgery much longer than him - including a patient at the top of the waiting list who had been waiting for about 700 days. He said during his long wait, his reliance on anti-inflammatories and about eight courses of antibiotics were taking a toll on his body. He said he also developed depression. "People have said to me, what was it like? And I said, well if I had a gun, I would have used it on myself, literally. That's how bad it was, the depression that came with it," he said. The man said his operation was eventually outsourced to a private hospital in Hastings in late April, with travel and accommodation costs covered by HNZ. He said while he was delighted to finally get his operation done, the process made him feel "abandoned" by the health system, and he worried about the impact on others who had similar experiences. The man's GP, who also did not want to be named, said he should have been treated in a month, given his condition. She said she had noticed an increasing number of referrals being declined or taking up to a year for the patients to be seen. She estimated about 40 percent of her ENT referrals were either getting rejected or "getting nowhere". The doctor said this further strained already limited resources for GPs, who were left holding the patients' hands for much longer during their waits. "It's really difficult as a GP, because I feel like it sometimes doubles or triples our job, because we have these patients coming back to us desperate to be seen. "Sometimes I'll write more than one referral, maybe three referrals, pleading with the department to expedite this person's appointment," she said. She said the waits were particularly pronounced in ENT and orthopaedics. She said it appeared that all patients other than "priority 1" (top priority patients) were having to wait for over four months or longer for appointments. HNZ has been approached for comment. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
