A cure for cancer has long been regarded impossible – at best wildly optimistic.

But an Australian doctor who has spent the last decade working on a new treatment has developed a way to achieve the impossible. One that could completely revolutionise cancer treatment.

Dr Ken Micklethwaite from Sydney’s Westmead Institute is at the forefront of treating blood cancers in Australia.

Todd is in complete remission with 'CAR T cells' in abundance to destroy any more cancer that might develop. (60 Minutes)

In an exclusive interview with 60 Minutes reporter Charles Wooley, Dr Micklethwaite has revealed a new treatment method using modified immune cells – called CAR T cells – which have the ability to seek out and destroy cancer cells that the immune system can’t detect.

“CAR T cells are basically where we take immune cells that are unable to see cancer, we insert a gene in them that enables them to actually see and then respond to and kill cancer cells,” Dr Micklethwaite explains.

The treatment is deceptively simple, a quick and painless injection of the cells into the patient – rather than the long and often unforgiving traditional cancer treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy.

Dr Ken Micklethwaite from Sydney’s Westmead Institute is at the forefront of treating blood cancers in Australia. (60 Minutes)

CAR T Cell treatments have now been approved by the Federal Drug Administration in the United States, with a staggering 70-80% success rate.

It’s recently been announced that one of these treatments will be available in Australia, but the cost of the therapy comes in at around $500,000.

However, Dr Micklethwaite and his team have developed a new way of creating the CAR T cells in Australia, while significantly cutting down the cost.

This drastic reduction in price, closer to $10,000, means more CAR T cells can be made, more people can be treated – and cured.

Last year Dr Micklethwaite and his team launched a new clinical trial to show what their treatment can do. For 19-year-old Todd O’Shea, the trial has been lifesaving.

The adventurous teenager had been rushed to hospital after falling off a motorbike and breaking his arm. It was then he and his parents were handed a shocking diagnosis.

Dr Micklethwaite has revealed a new treatment method using modified immune cells – called CAR T cells – which have the ability to seek out and destroy cancer cells that the immune system can’t detect. (60 Minutes)

“The doctor in the ED just gave him a full check-up from coming off,” explained Todd’s mother Kate.

“An hour and a half later we were told it looked like Todd had leukemia.”

Leukaemia is Australia’s most common cancer among children and adolescents – and one of the most deadly.

Todd’s chances of survival were extremely low. Diagnosed with a strand of leukemia that was resistant to all other traditional treatments, chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant failed to work.

“I was terrified, I thought I was going to die,” Todd told 60 Minutes.

“I was bawling my eyes out for days on end, just not knowing what to do.”

Todd O’Shea, 19, was treated with the new method- and is now clear of leukemia. (Supplied)

In the lead up to being given the CAR T cells treatment, Todd’s condition had drastically declined, suffering with not only cancer but a serious lung infection which had made him dangerously ill.

But then, thanks to Dr Micklethwaite, Todd’s condition took an incredible turn.

Today, months later, Todd is in complete remission with CAR T cells in abundance to destroy any more cancer that might develop.

“I couldn't believe that there was no cancer in me at all,” he tells 60 Minutes.

“I thought this was it, this is the new beginning.”

The patients in Dr Micklethwaite’s trial given the CAR T cell treatment have almost all, within a month, gone into a complete remission.

It’s a incredible result, as it can often take several cycles of chemotherapy before patients start to see complete remissions.

While CAR T treatment are only currently suitable for cancers in the blood, there are hopes it can be improved to treat solid cancers like lung and breast cancer.

Todd with his mother, Katie, after his treatment. (60 Minutes)

Dr Micklethwaite believes it could someday replace chemotherapy as the standard treatment for cancer.

While Todd O’Shea is clear for now, he must wait five years before he can consider himself “cured.”’

For Dr Micklethwaite, the thought of granting patients like Todd a second chance at life is what powers him forward in his research.

“My goal would be not for it to be a chronic disease, but for us to be able to say to people; ‘We’ve given you this treatment, and you are cured,’” he tells 60 Minutes.

PLEASE NOTE: The current CAR T-cell clinical trials at Westmead are only for specific kinds of B-cell leukaemia and lymphoma. If you have B-cell leukaemia or lymphoma and believe that you may benefit from the Westmead Program, you should talk to your treating specialist who will be best able to determine if CAR T-cells will be suitable for you and can then refer you to Westmead for assessment.