Thanks to Sun readers, thousands more cancer patients will benefit from life-saving drugs being deployed in the NHS.
Researchers say inhibitors that fight proteins that help cancer cells repair themselves could change how the disease is treated.
One of the drugs, olaparib, was given the go-ahead following a study funded in part by the ‘Raise a Ton with The Sun’ campaign, to which a kind reader sent a £100 donation.
Launched in 2000 with the support of celebrities such as King Charles, Dennis van Oten and Ronan Keating, it has raised £650,000 in donations.
Olaparib is already used to treat ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, and early-stage breast cancer. It will now be used to treat breast cancer, the most common cancer along with leukemia and skin cancer.
About 10,000 patients could be saved if the results of the latest study comparing 80 drugs are confirmed.
Dr. Simon Vincent of the charity Breast Cancer Now said, “We are very pleased that more patients can benefit.”
