Experts urge minister to open blood cancer care centre in Munster

The campaign calls for a new stem cell transplant unit so patients do not have to be sent from Munster hospitals to Galway or Dublin

Bruce Levine PhD, the inventor of a medicine for blood cancers, has called on Jennifer Carroll MacNeill to 'prioritise and fund' a stem cell transplantation and cellular therapy centre at CUH.

The Irish Society for Gene and Cell Therapy, as well as international experts, have written to the health minister supporting calls to expand blood cancer care with a centre in Munster.

The letters support a campaign led by patients and consultants calling for a new stem cell transplant unit so they do not have to be sent from Munster hospitals to Galway or Dublin. 

Professor Frank Barry, president of the Irish society, said: "We sent it to the minister and got a response, a positive response.

“We’re very supportive of this. We understand there’s a gap in terms of availability even though there are clinics in St James and in Galway but there’s still a gap. The wider availability of this (treatment) is a good thing.

The response had, he felt, “a very positive tone and generally a strong interest in pursuing this”. He is professor of cellular therapy at the Regenerative Medicine Institute in the University of Galway.

He said:

Some of these patients are very, very sick so having to travel long distances is not at all to their advantage.

Prof. Barry also said expanding the network is important for research. A new unit could potentially offer autologous stem cell transplants, allogeneic stem cell transplants and CAR-T cell therapy.

Professor Bruce Levine is the American inventor of a medicine for blood cancers and former president of the International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy.

In a separate letter to Ms Carroll MacNeill he called on her to “prioritise and fund” a stem cell transplantation and cellular therapy centre at CUH.

“There is an existing patient population, an established clinical programme of referral and follow-up, a defined infrastructure proposal and a long history of attempts to restore this capability,” he wrote.

On Friday, the International Myeloma Society wrote to the minister calling for investment to improve treatment access for myeloma patients. 

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“As longer remission and, for some patients, cure become possible, Ireland’s health service has a responsibility to keep pace with the science and ensure that eligible patients can receive the treatments their clinical teams recommend,” it said. 

In response to Prof. Levine, the department of health said a Strategic Healthcare Investment Framework (SHIF) submission was “advanced” this year. 

“A project team has been established to further advance the development of the facility, which remains a strategic priority for the future development of cancer and hematology services in the region,” it said in an response seen by the Irish Examiner.