The National Health Service in England has approved a new immunotherapy treatment for aggressive stomach cancer, marking what experts call the first major breakthrough in curative care for the disease in nearly ten years. The decision by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence means that around 1,500 patients each year will now be eligible for the drug, offering a meaningful chance to extend both survival and quality of life.
The approved therapy is durvalumab, also known as Imfinzi, and is given alongside chemotherapy to adults whose stomach cancer has not spread extensively and can be surgically removed. Unlike traditional treatments, immunotherapy works by harnessing the body’s own immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells. Clinical trials showed that adding durvalumab to chemotherapy significantly increased the time before the cancer progressed and improved overall survival rates. Helen Knight, director of medicines evaluation at Nice, described stomach cancer as a devastating disease with high rates of recurrence after surgery, and said there is an urgent need for treatments that meaningfully extend both the length and quality of patients’ lives.
Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, affects approximately 6,800 people in the UK each year. Symptoms can include difficulty swallowing, unexplained weight loss, indigestion, and persistent nausea. For many patients, the standard approach has been surgery combined with chemotherapy, but recurrence rates have remained high. Sheena Dewan, executive director at Stomach Cancer UK, called the approval the first major advance in curative intent treatment for stomach cancer in nearly a decade. She noted that adding immunotherapy to perioperative chemotherapy offers a real opportunity for lower recurrence and longer survival, and gives families living with the constant fear that the cancer will return a meaningful opportunity for more time together.
What Happens Next for Patients
The Nice ruling means that eligible patients in England can now receive durvalumab as part of their standard NHS care. The drug will be administered before and after surgery in combination with chemotherapy. Experts hope this approval will set a new standard for treating locally advanced stomach cancer and encourage further research into immunotherapy for other gastrointestinal cancers. For patients and their loved ones, the decision offers something that has been scarce in this field for a decade: genuine hope for more time, less recurrence, and a better life beyond treatment.