A new cancer-fighting therapy approved by Medsafe is being labelled a game changer for leukaemia patients.
Clinical trials have shown a 78 percent reduction in progression or death.
They may look like little grey pills to most, but they are lifesavers for Edwin Christian.
He has chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), and two years ago he was given two months to live.
With nothing to lose he went on a trial for a new treatment and, to his amazement, the treatment worked.
"You will not believe, within 10 days I could move around, I could breathe."
CLL is a rare blood and bone marrow disease which affects around 120 New Zealanders each year, most of them 60-years-old and above.
Ibrutinib, or IMBRUVICA, is a breakthrough therapy that works by blocking signals to the leukaemia cells, stopping it from multiplying and spreading.
It's causing some excitement among blood cancer specialists like Dr David Simpson.
"This must have been what it was like when they discovered antibiotics to fight infections. We're getting drugs that are so well tolerated and so effective that the terror of having a diagnosis of leukaemia is going to be something of the past."
Mr Christian's scans showed a large lymph node mass crushing his organs. It's now disappeared.
Dr Simpson says there are a number of good new drugs in the pipeline, but they're expensive. IMBRUVICA costs upwards of $90,000 a year.
Mr Christian says he was lucky to be on the trial.
"If others suffering with lymphoma can be put on that, it's just going to help the patient. It's extraordinary," he says.
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