Clinical breakthrough: Manchester Royal Infirmary delivers UK first NHS treatment to a patient with an aggressive blood cancer

A 28-year-old patient with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, has become the first patient in the UK to be treated on the NHS with an innovative personalised therapy at Manchester Royal Infirmary.

The CAR-T treatment, known as obe-cel, has been developed, researched, and manufactured in the UK and specialists at Manchester Royal Infirmary have been the first to deliver this clinical breakthrough.

Oscar, aged 28 from Bury, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) in March 2025. He’d been feeling run down after caring for his mum who’d been recovering from surgery. He returned to work feeling fatigued but thought nothing more of it. When a colleague told him to contact 111 given how ill he looked he was admitted to hospital and diagnosed with ALL three days later.

Since his diagnosis, he has been receiving standard treatment for ALL, including chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant at Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI), with the aim of achieving a cure. Following his transplant in July, Oscar’s treatment initially appeared to be working well. Sadly, in early November, he suddenly became very ill and received the devastating news that his leukaemia had returned, despite having undergone the most powerful and effective treatments available.  In response to this heartbreaking news, staff on Ward 44 at MRI organised a special wedding for Oscar and his partner, Lauren, in early December.

Oscar said: “I’ve spent a lot of time in hospital since my diagnosis and my partner, Lauren, has been my rock. The set back in my treatment made everything feel so unknown. Staff here put on such a special wedding for Lauren and I, it meant the world to us and our families watching at home.”

Consultant Haematologist, and Director of the Adult Stem Cell Transplant, CAR-T and Gene Therapy Unit at MRI, Dr Eleni Tholouli, had played a key part in the trials of obe-cel, recruiting the most trial patients at a single site and working closely with regulators. NICE approved for treatment for use in November 2025. She recommended Oscar for the new treatment, due to the successes it had shown in trial for people in his situation.

Oscar received his obe-cel treatment on Friday, 2 January 2026. He said:

“When I first heard about this new treatment on offer, I did feel very apprehensive. It all happened so quickly and it’s a lot to take in. It is scary to hear about something so new, I saw it all over the news when it had been approved and it really hit home how life changing this is for people just like me.

I’ve had great support around me from my fiancé, my family and the staff here at MRI. My consultant, Eleni, has explained the treatment to me and the success they’ve had in trials so I’ve a lot of hope in this innovative new treatment and it feels surreal to be the first person to be treated with this since becoming accessible to patients on the NHS.

Obe-cel is a next-generation CAR-T therapy that works by reprogramming a patient’s own immune cells to more effectively recognise and destroy cancer cells. Because it uses the patient’s own cells, it is a highly personalised treatment that can only be used for that individual. The reprogrammed cells are then infused back into the patient in two separate doses.

Dr Eleni Tholouli, said: “Having treated the most patients as a single centre on the early-phase trial, our unit was inspected by medical regulators from both the United States and Europe ahead of the product’s licensing and subsequent NICE approval. This marks a proud day for UK clinical research, and for Manchester Royal Infirmary, bringing this new therapy to patients. 

We’ve been delighted to play such a key role in the research and development of this treatment by running this clinical trial at our centre. It is also incredibly fulfilling to be the first UK centre to deliver a therapy that offers not just hope, but a real chance of long-term remission for patients. We cannot underestimate the significant breakthrough for patients here.

Evidence from the clinical trial showed high rates of remission in patients whose cancer had either returned after treatment or failed to respond to initial therapy. The FELIX study, which treated 127 people globally, 24 of which were treated at MRI, found that 77% of those who received at least one infusion of obe-cel went into remission from their leukaemia. The evidence also suggests that obe-cel provides more durable remissions, meaning improved survival for patients, with significantly less toxicity compared with other immunotherapies currently available.

Manchester Royal Infirmary recruited the most patients to the FELIX trial, and Eleni is very pleased to still be in touch with so many patients and hear about their progress, she said: “An enormous amount of work goes into running early-phase trials like this, and we are delighted to see the results. We are incredibly grateful to all the trial patients who put their faith in us by taking part. Because of them, we can stand here today offering real hope to Oscar and others in his situation.”

Chris Williams, aged 29 from Belfast, was treated as a trial patient at MRI in 2023, and is now in remission. He said “This treatment has given me a future. I’ve recently got engaged to my partner Chloe and I’m living a relatively normal life, bar some regular check-ups. I found it incredible to be part of a trial that has been so successful for me but to now see Oscar be the first patient to be treated in the UK following approval, in the very hospital I was treated, is amazing and I wish him all the best.”

This treatment represents a groundbreaking milestone for UK life sciences and highlights the NHS’s role in advancing medical innovation. It is now manufactured by Autolus, a part of University College London (UCL), led by Dr Claire Roddie, Associate Professor of Haematology at UCL and their cancer institute scientists Martin Pule and Karl Peggs.

Joint Chief Medical Officer at Manchester University NHS Foundation trust, Dr Sohail Munshi, said: “I’m incredibly proud to see Manchester being involved in such a clinical breakthrough, with research partners across the UK. Research and innovation is key priority for us and the wider NHS. As we have seen with this treatment, it is quite literally having a life-changing impact, it’s giving people better treatment options and a future they would likely not have experienced.   

“A lot of work goes into trials from clinicians and patients, which is vital to ensuring that the work taking place on lab benches right now, is providing care and cures at the bedside tomorrow.”   

This is the latest personalised CAR-T therapy offered by the NHS in England since it was the first health system in Europe to offer CAR-T in 2018. The NHS now offers a range of CAR-T treatments for different forms of blood cancers to treat adults and children.  

Professor Peter Johnson, NHS National Clinical Director for Cancer, said: “It is fantastic news to hear Oscar has become the first patient in the UK to receive this new treatment on the NHS, and proof once again of the remarkable power of the health service to start offering this treatment just a few months after it was given the green light by regulators. 

“The journey of obe-cel from scientific research in a UK university to a safe, effective, and affordable treatment delivered at specialist NHS CAR-T centres is a remarkable one and will help more people like Oscar live longer and healthier lives. 

The rollout of Obe-cel is a landmark moment for people with aggressive blood cancer and is just one of the latest in a series of world-leading treatments adopted by the NHS in England for patients.