Glen Fairweather, 62, is one of dozens of patients diagnosed with an aggressive form of squamous cell carcinoma who received the trial treatment.
It involves the use of immunotherapy to shrink the cancerous growth so patients can avoid having to endure radical surgery.
Fairweather’s transformation was remarkable after receiving the first dose of the three weekly infusions.
“It was so deep and so close to my eye I probably would’ve lost it,” Fairweather told 9News.
The trial’s success meant the 62-year-old did not need extensive surgery that would’ve led to aesthetic and functional issues.
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“Traditional surgery would’ve meant he would lose his eye [and] a large portion of his face,” Chris O’Brien Lifehouse doctor and associate professor Sydney Ch’ng told 9News.
“[The trial means] we don’t perform surgery that’s any more disfiguring than we have to, we preserve function.”
Results from phase two of the trial will be published in the coming months, but experts say early positive treatments, like Fairweather’s, could change the way this aggressive form of non-melanoma skin cancer is treated and managed.
“It was critical to bring it forward into the earlier setting to see if we can shrink the cancer prior to surgery,” Chris O’Brien Lifehouse doctor Jenny Lee said.
