World's First Seven-Minute Cancer Treatment Injection
England’s National Health Service (NHS) is set to become the first in the world to offer a groundbreaking seven-minute cancer treatment injection, a shift that could drastically reduce treatment times for cancer patients across the country. The injection, which uses the immunotherapy drug atezolizumab (Tecentriq), is expected to cut treatment times by up to 75% for hundreds of eligible patients!
With approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), NHS England will now provide the treatment as a subcutaneous (under-the-skin) injection. Dr. Alexander Martin, an oncologist at West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, noted that this new approach will make care more convenient for patients and enable healthcare teams to treat more people throughout the day.
“A quicker injection means less time spent in the hospital for patients and allows us to maximize the number of treatments we can provide,” says Dr. Martin.
Atezolizumab, commonly branded as Tecentriq and developed by Genentech, is an immunotherapy drug that helps the immune system target and destroy cancer cells. Previously, patients receiving atezolizumab required an intravenous (IV) infusion lasting between 30 and 60 minutes, a process that could be difficult if veins were hard to access.
In contrast, the new injection option takes only about seven minutes to administer. Marius Scholtz, Medical Director at Roche Products Limited, highlighted the impact this time-saving measure can have on patient care.
The NHS estimates that most of the 3,600 patients who start atezolizumab treatment annually will be able to switch to the injection format. However, patients receiving atezolizumab in combination with chemotherapy through IV will continue with the transfusion method for now.
This new rollout represents a major step forward for immunotherapy treatments, offering a quicker, more accessible method for patients with various cancers, including lung, breast, liver, and bladder cancers.
