A man who was diagnosed with the deadliest form of brain cancer is in the clear after he underwent experimental treatment.
Ben Trotman is still showing no signs of glioblastoma, more than two years since he was given an immunotherapy drug in a world-first clinical trial.
Most people with glioblastoma die within 12-18 months.
Mr Trotman, 43, was diagnosed with glioblastoma in October 2022. Two years and eight months on from having the treatment, his scans are clear and there are no signs of the tumour.
As a result of Mr Trotman’s success, the NHS will seek to recruit 16 people over 18 months to undergo a new immunotherapy trial, which will be set up in honour of Baroness McDonagh, the former Labour Party general secretary who died of the disease.
The trial, conducted by University College London Hospital (UCLH), follows a previous one on the same drug, which stopped because of a lack of recruitment.
Dr Paul Mulholland, the consultant medical oncologist who 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 receiving the treatment, and in April, the couple had a daughter, Mabel.
‘We had a lucky break’
Mrs Trotman 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.”
Dame Siobhain McDonagh, the MP for Mitcham and Morden, led a fundraising campaign to raise more than £1m to cover the costs of the new trial after the death of her sister 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.”
Dr Mulholland, who claimed he aims to “find a cure for glioblastoma”, said he was “incredibly grateful” for the support of both Baroness McDonagh and Dame Siobhain.
He said: “We’re taking everything we have learned from previous trials into this new study and we are already planning follow-up trials.
The National Brain Appeal is currently funding two posts in support of Dr Mulholland’s research.
The fresh trial will see patients who are diagnosed with glioblastoma receive immunotherapy with ipilimumab, a drug which activates the immune system to fight cancer, before they undergo standard treatment.
Patients interested in the trial should discuss it with their doctor. Treatment will take place at the UCLH’s clinical research facility and the national hospital for neurology and neurosurgery.
