Around 300 people a year in England with an aggressive blood cancer can now get a drug that was out of reach until they had been through two rounds of treatment. On November 13, 2025, the NHS began rolling out glofitamab, sold as Columvi, following approval by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
The drug is for relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, or DLBCL, a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that has come back or has not responded to chemotherapy. Patients can now receive it after just one previous course of treatment.
It is given by intravenous infusion every three weeks. NHS England is fast-tracking it through the Cancer Drugs Fund, which exists to speed up access to new cancer therapies.
What the trials showed
Clinical trial results point in one direction. Almost 60% of patients reached complete remission when glofitamab was combined with chemotherapy. Survival also improved: 54% of patients were alive after two years, against 34% on standard treatment.
Professor Peter Johnson, National Clinical Director for Cancer at NHS England, welcomed the rollout. “Antibodies such as glofitamab that harness the power of the immune system to target lymphoma, are transforming the way people are treated and helping to boost the number of people cured,” he said.
“This is excellent news for patients with this aggressive form of blood cancer, with the NHS fast-tracking this cutting-edge treatment so that more people can benefit.”
Who is affected
DLBCL affects around 5,500 people in England each year, mainly men aged 65 and over. Painless swelling of the glands is among the symptoms. The earlier access offers some patients a chance to avoid gruelling rounds of treatment and to improve their quality of life.
The Cancer Drugs Fund launched in 2016. It has since helped more than 108,000 patients reach cutting-edge treatments, with over 300 approvals fast-tracked, among them 50 new options in the past 18 months.
