Britain’s state-run National Health Service (NHS) has unveiled its plan to launch an injection to treat cancer of hundreds of patients in England and can potentially reduce drug treatment times by up to three quarters.
The anti-cancer injection, which takes around seven minutes to administer, has received approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
With the launch, NHS in England is said to become the first health system globally to roll out the subcutaneous injection to hundreds of patients annually.
NHS Cancer national director Peter 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.
“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.
“Today’s announcement is the latest in a series in the 75th year of the NHS that highlights how an innovation-driven health service is securing the most advanced cancer treatments for patients.”
Currently, patients get the life-extending immunotherapy atezolizumab (Tencentriq) in hospital directly into their veins through a drug transfusion.
Atezolizumab, made by Genentech, a Roche company, is typically administered intravenously over 30 minutes, but in some patients, it may take up to an hour if a vein is difficult to access.
NHS said that hundreds of eligible patients receiving atezolizumab treatment will benefit from switching to the quicker and more comfortable injection, which will also free up time for NHS cancer teams.
Atezolizumab is an immunotherapy drug that empowers a patient’s own immune system to find and kill cancerous cells.
According to NHS England, the majority of the roughly 3,600 people in England who begin atezolizumab treatment each year will switch to the time-saving injection.
However, Britain’s health services provider mentioned that patients getting atezolizumab along with intravenous chemotherapy can continue receiving transfusions.
