England Approves New Cancer Jab That Cuts Treatment Time By 75%

In a world first, the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is now offering ‘under the skin’ injections that can potentially reduce the time it takes to treat cancer by 75%. NHS revealed on their website on 29 August 2023, that this new method of drug treatment will only take seven minutes to administer cutting down the time from 30 to 60 minutes. 

This is a tremendous achievement for England’s NHS after they received the green light from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and became the first health system in the world to roll out such a quick treatment method that could potentially save hundreds of lives each year. 

NHS Revolutionising Cancer Treatment

Professor Peter Johnson, National Director, Cancer, NHS expressed, “Maintaining the best possible quality of life for cancer patients is vital, so the introduction of faster under-the-skin injections will make an important difference.”

One major issue for patients undergoing therapy for cancer is that the immunotherapy drug Atezolizumab is administered directly into the veins of the patient via a drug transfusion. Atezolizumab empowers a patient’s immune system and enables it to destroy cancerous cells, and is currently offered against cancers including lung, breast, liver and bladder cancer. 

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For some cancer patients, intravenous administration of Atezolizumab can be an exceptionally tedious and painful task if the healthcare provider has difficulty locating their veins. NHS claims that their new subcutaneous injection can significantly improve the hospital experience of hundreds of eligible patients being treated with atezolizumab. 

It is estimated that approximately 3,600 patients starting treatment of Atezolizumab annually in England will switch to this new time-saving injection, except for the patients receiving intravenous chemotherapy in combination with Atezolizumab.

Commenting on this exceptional feat, Professor Johnson said, “The world-first introduction of this treatment will mean that hundreds of patients can spend less time at the hospital and will free up valuable time in NHS chemotherapy units.”

Agreeing with Professor Johnson, Dr Alexander Martin, Consultant Oncologist, West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust said, “This is great news for both patients and clinicians. This approval will not only allow us to deliver convenient and faster care for our patients but will enable our teams to treat more patients throughout the day.”

Roche Manufacturing 7-Minute Cancer Injection

This faster treatment will not cost a dime extra than the preexisting  Atezolizumab injections as NHS has a commercial deal with Roche, who is manufacturing the seven-minute injections under the brand name Tecentriq.

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Expressing gratitude, Marius Scholtz, Medical Director, Roche Products Limited said, “Injecting Tecentriq under the skin offers a faster treatment option as it takes approximately seven minutes, compared with thirty to sixty minutes for the current method of an intravenous infusion of Tecentriq, and we couldn’t have achieved this without the collaboration and support of stakeholders across the cancer community.”