Founding Duran Duran member and guitarist Andy Taylor said a breakthrough cancer drug has prolonged his life “for five years.”
The 62-year-old musician revealed his stage 4 prostate cancer diagnosis last November, saying he was initially diagnosed in 2015.
Taylor said a scientist reached out to him with a suggestion of “a nuclear medicine” called Lutetium-177.
The scientist told him that the medication “is targeted, so it only sees cancer cells.”
“It could actually’t see healthy cells,” Taylor told BBC News revealing he had his first round of the drug six weeks ago. “It kills stage 4 cancer in your bones. And so what it’s effectively done is extend my life for five years.”
The drug received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration in March 2022 and has “proven to significantly improve prostate cancer survival rates and quality of life, in addition to extend the time it takes for the disease to progress,” in line with the University of Chicago Medical Center.
Taylor said his health had been on a gradual decline before trying the drug, and had been on what he has called “the blacklist.”
The rocker revealed his diagnosis in 2022 through his bandmates Simon Le Bo, Nick Rhodes, John Taylor, and Roger Taylor, who read out a letter at their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction speech in Los Angeles.
Taylor was unable to attend the band’s induction ceremony, but frontman Le Bon read a letter on behalf of the musician.
“Many families have experienced the slow burn of this disease and after all, we are not any different,” Taylor wrote in his letter. “So I speak from the angle of a family man but with profound humility to the band, the best fans a bunch could have, and this exceptional accolade.”
The British rocker said he has been receiving excellent treatment, but had recently suffered a “setback.”
“Despite the exceptional efforts of my team, I needed to be honest in that each physically and mentally, I could be pushing my boundaries,” the letter read. “Nevertheless, none of this must or should detract from what this band (with or without me) has achieved and sustained for 44 years.”
The induction ceremony was intended to be a reunion for Duran Duran, which Taylor was a member of from 1980 to 1986 and again from 2001 to 2006.
He played guitar on the band’s first three albums, which included the hit songs “Rio” and “Hungry Just like the Wolf.”
