Duran Duran's Andy Taylor Given Five More Years With Innovative Cancer Drug

Andy Taylor, the former guitarist in Duran Duran, has found a way to extend his life by five years after revealing his stage four metastatic prostate cancer diagnosis in November 2022.

The shock news arrived when the Wild Boys group were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame last November. While Taylor hadn’t performed with his bandmates since his departure in 2006, he planned to attend the induction ceremony when he encountered a significant setback and could no longer join Duran Duran on stage.

He ended up writing a letter, which vocalist Simon Le Bon read on stage on behalf of his friend. You can read that letter here.

Yesterday (11 August), Taylor joined BBC Breakfast and revealed that Professor Sir Chris Evans, founder of the Cancer Awareness Trust, had gotten in touch to offer a “nuclear” medicine to treat cancer.

While Taylor initially received his diagnosis eight years ago, it wasn’t until he went public last year that Evans reached out and offered him a “nuclear medicine, Lutetium-177, which is targeted so it only sees cancer cells,” Taylor said, per BBC News.

He added, “It can't see healthy cells. It kills stage four cancer in your bones. And so what it's effectively done is extend my life for five years.”

Taylor started the innovative cancer treatment six weeks ago.

“When patients like Andy Taylor have unfortunately progressed to stage four prostate cancer with secondary metastases, particularly in the bone tissue, then treatment options are limited,” Evans told the BBC Breakfast team. “He'd already received some of the best medicines available and was in serious decline.”

After diving into the guitarist’s genetic profile and the genomic mutations specifically in Taylor’s cancer, Evans and the Cancer Awareness Trust found the best option for him. “Based on everything we understood, the nuclear medicine Lutetium 177 injections were considered the best option for him,” Evans said.

Taylor explained that he wanted to be a “beacon of hope” for cancer survivors and their families and friends, sharing that he had to get himself in “very, very good health” before taking the Lutetium 177 drug.

“I really took care of myself in a different way,” Taylor 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?’”

Taylor doesn’t want to be a patient “stuck here”; he wants to be “a working patient, a little beacon of hope because this stuff - cancer - just drags you and your family down in the darkness”. You can watch the interview below.

Taylor has become a beacon of hope, even announcing a new album, Man’s A Wolf To Man, which will be released on Friday, 8 September, via BMG. You can pre-order or pre-save the album here. Man’s A Wolf To Man is Taylor’s first solo album in 30 years.

Earlier this year, Duran Duran’s John Taylor revealed that Andy Taylor had played guitar on their new album, which is due for release before the end of 2023.

Duran Duran posted on Instagram that they were “thrilled to confirm a special project is in the works, set for release later this year on BMG.”

“The new recordings will feature extended Duran Duran family and friends, including our former bandmate Andy Taylor who will join us on guitar on a few tracks.”