Duran Duran’s Andy Taylor Says Cancer Drug Has Extended His Life Expectancy
Duran Duran founder member and guitarist Andy Taylor has claimed a new drug treatment is working in his battle with Stage 4 prostate cancer.
In a BBC interview, Taylor said the drug – Lutetium-177 – has extended his life “for five years.”
The 62-year-old Taylor first was diagnosed with the disease in 2018. He went public with the information last November. After that, a scientist suggested nuclear medicine treatment with Lutetium-177, which reportedly targets cancer cells.
“It can’t see healthy cells,” Taylor told BBC News. He said his first round of treatments was six weeks ago. “It kills stage four cancer in your bones. And so what it’s effectively done is extend my life for five years.”
The guitarist explained that he had to get in “very, very good health” before he could have the treatment. “So I really took care of myself in a different way,” he said.
“And then after the first round of treatment I said, ‘If I’m OK, and you guys [his doctors] say I’m OK and do your blood tests, is it OK to start work again – light work – and get out?’
“I don’t want to be a patient stuck here. I want to be a working patient, a little beacon of hope, because this stuff – cancer – just drags you and your family down in the darkness,” he said.
Taylor also reflected on missing a planned reunion with Duran Duran at the band’s induction into the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. “A few days before, I couldn’t really stand up and play,” he said.
“I missed the biggest night of my life,” he said, adding that until that moment, “no-one really knew [about his diagnosis] – just family and a few friends”.
Taylor’s upcoming album, Man’s A Wolf To Man, his first solo release in over 30 years, can be pre-ordered here.