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Yahoo
6 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Man's deadly brain cancer tumor disappears after experimental drug trial
A man with the deadliest form of brain cancer has no signs of the disease after taking an experimental drug. Ben Trotman was 40 when he was diagnosed in 2022 with glioblastoma, the most aggressive cancerous brain tumor. Patients typically live an average of 15 months after diagnosis, and the five-year survival rate is just 6.9%. Trotman was referred to The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery at University College London Hospitals (UCLH), where he was treated by consultant UCLH medical oncologist Dr. Paul Mulholland, as detailed in a press release. Ancient 'Pharaoh's Curse' Fungus Shows Promise In Killing Cancer Cells As the only person enrolled in a trial that ultimately closed due to lack of patients, Trotman received a medication called ipilimumab, a targeted immunotherapy treatment. Ipilimumab is an antibody that binds to a protein on immune cells (T cells). It keeps cancer cells from suppressing the immune system so it can then attack and kill the cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute. Read On The Fox News App Trotman also received radiation and chemotherapy. More than two years later, his quarterly scans show no signs of cancer. "It is very unusual to have a clear scan with glioblastoma, especially when he didn't have the follow-up surgery that had been planned to remove all of the tumor that was initially visible on scans," his oncologist, Mulholland, said in the release. "We hope that the immunotherapy and follow-up treatment Ben has had will hold his tumor at bay — and it has so far, which we are delighted to see." Two months after receiving the ipilimumab, Trotman married his wife, Emily. In April 2025, they welcomed their daughter, Mabel. "Getting this diagnosis was the most traumatic experience — we were grappling with the fact that Ben had gone from being apparently perfectly healthy to having months to live," Emily Trotman said in the release. "Had we not met Dr. Mulholland, that would have been it for us. We felt we had a lucky break in an otherwise devastating situation." Ben Trotman added, "We obviously don't know what the future holds, but having had the immunotherapy treatment and getting these encouraging scan results has given [us] a bit of hope." "We are focused on rebuilding the life we thought we had lost and enjoying being parents." Mulholland and his team have now opened another clinical trial for patients who have been newly diagnosed with glioblastoma. Click Here To Sign Up For Our Health Newsletter Sixteen patients will be recruited for the trial, which is sponsored by UCL. The treatment will be administered at the NIHR UCLH's Clinical Research Facility and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, according to the press release. The patients will receive ipilimumab before proceeding to standard treatments that may include surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. "The 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," Mulholland said in the release. The Win-Glio trial — nicknamed "Margaret's Trial" — is funded by the efforts of Dame Siobhain McDonagh, sister of Margaret McDonagh, a London woman who died of glioblastoma in 2023 and was treated by Mulholland. For more Health articles, visit Ben Trotman said he is "delighted" that the new trial is moving forward with the same immunotherapy drug he received. "It will give people newly diagnosed with glioblastoma some hope."Original article source: Man's deadly brain cancer tumor disappears after experimental drug trial
Daily Mail
21-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
I was cured of one of the deadliest forms of cancer after trialling a new drug... my brain cancer is gone
A father who suffered with the world's deadliest form of brain cancer has been cleared after he underwent an experimental treatment. Ben Trotman, 43, who was diagnosed with glioblastoma in October 2022, is now showing no signs of the disease after being administered an immunotherapy drug in a world first two years ago. Most patients with the aggressive form of brain cancer typically die within 12-to-18 months. Consultant medical oncologist, Dr Paul Mulholland, who is leading the new trial and treated Mr Trotman, said: 'It is very unusual to have a clear scan with glioblastoma, especially when he didn't have the follow-up surgery that had been planned to remove all of the tumour that was initially visible on scans. 'We hope that the immunotherapy and follow-up treatment Ben has had will hold his tumour at bay – and it has so far, which we are delighted to see.' Mr Trotman married his wife Emily two months after the immunotherapy treatment in 2023, and in April, his daughter Mabel was born. The father-of-one said: 'Getting this diagnosis was the most traumatic experience. We were grappling with the fact that Ben had gone from being apparently perfectly healthy to having months to live. 'Had we not met Dr Mulholland, that would have been it for us. We felt we had a lucky break in an otherwise devastating situation.' Ben Trotman, 43, who was diagnosed with glioblastoma in October 2022, is now showing no signs of the disease after being administered an immunotherapy drug in a world first two years ago Mr Trotman went on to have the current standard treatment of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. He also undergoes quarterly cans, which continue to return clear. 'We obviously don't know what the future holds but having had the immunotherapy treatment and getting these encouraging scan results has given Emily and I a bit of hope,' he said. 'We are focused on rebuilding the life we thought we had lost and enjoying being parents'. The trial, from University College London Hospital's National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, follows a previous one on the same drug which closed because of lack of recruitment. But Dame Siobhain McDonagh MP lead a fundraising campaign to raise more than £1million to cover the costs of the new trials after her sister, Baroness McDonagh, died from glioblastoma in 2023. Dame Siobhain said: 'My 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. 'Changing this was Margaret's final campaign and one that I have continued in her memory. 'I am so grateful to the many people who knew and respected Margaret who have come together and helped to raise funds and campaign for this new trial that we are calling Margaret's Trial.' Dr Paul Mulholland said: 'When I met Margaret she said to me 'what can I do to support you to cure this disease?'. 'I am incredibly grateful to her and to Siobhain whose campaigning and fundraising in her sister's memory has led to this new clinical trial opening for patients with this most aggressive form of brain cancer that has such a poor prognosis, with most patients surviving just nine months after diagnosis. 'The 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. 'We're taking everything we have learned from previous trials into this new study and we are already planning follow-on trials. 'My aim is to find a cure for glioblastoma.' The National Brain Appeal is currently funding two posts in support of Dr Mulholland's research. Treatment will take place at the NIHR UCLH's Clinical Research Facility and at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery.
