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The blood-forming stem cells used for cancer therapy are called hematopoietic stem cells. They constitute less than one in 1,00,000 bone marrow cells. They look like small lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell in the vertebrate immune system) and cannot be easily distinguished. These cells are capable of self-renewal as well as production of progenitor cells, which differentiate into mature blood cells. Bone marrow, peripheral blood (the blood returning to the heart) and cord blood (obtained from the umbilical cord at birth) are three good sources of hematopoietic stem cells.

American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has received marketing authorisation from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for its medication Etrasimod, marketed as Velsipity, used to treat people with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis. Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that causes inflammation and ulcers (sores) in the lining of the large intestine (colon) and rectum. The approved recommended dose for Velsipity is one 2 mg tablet to be taken once daily. For the first three days, it is advised to take the medication with food, and subsequently, it can be taken daily either with or without food. According to the regulator, the approval of the medication is based on evidence from two clinical studies, which showed that 26 per cent of patients taking etrasimod achieved clinical remission after 12 weeks of treatment compared with 11 per cent of those receiving placebo. The studies included more than 740 patients aged 16 years and over for whom standard treatment or other treatments did not work well enough or could not be used.