In the world of cancer treatment, England will become the first UK nation to roll out a new seven-minute cancer treatment jab. This revolutionary new treatment promises to revolutionise the way cancer is treated, drastically reducing the amount of time it takes for cancer patients to receive treatment.
On Tuesday, following approval from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), NHS England said that hundreds of eligible patients treated with the immunotherapy, atezolizumab, were set to have "under the skin" injection, which will free up more time for cancer teams.
"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," Dr Alexander Martin, a consultant oncologist at West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust said.
NHS England said atezolizumab, also known as Tecentriq, is usually given to patients intravenously, directly into their veins via a drip, which could often take around 30 minutes or up to an hour for some patients when it can be challenging to access a vein.
"It takes approximately seven minutes, compared with 30 to 60 minutes for the current method of an intravenous infusion," Marius Scholtz, Medical Director at Roche Products Limited said.
Atezolizumab - made by Genentech, a Roche (ROG.S) company - is an immunotherapy drug that empowers a patient's own immune system to seek and destroy cancerous cells. The treatment is currently offered by transfusion to NHS patients with a range of cancers, including lung, breast, liver and bladder.
NHS England said it expected the majority of around 3,600 patients starting the treatment of atezolizumab every year in England to switch to the time-saving injection.
But added that patients receiving intravenous chemotherapy in combination with atezolizumab may remain on the transfusion.
The idea of a seven-minute treatment for cancer has been around for some time, but this is the first time it will be put into practice in England. It is going to be rolled out by the NHS as part of an effort to make treatments more accessible and effective for patients across the country. This is especially important in light of new research that suggests that atezolizumab can be more effective than traditional chemotherapy when it comes to treating certain types of cancer.
Though this new seven-minute jab is not yet available everywhere, it is an incredibly promising development in the fight against cancer. As more countries follow England’s lead and begin rolling out this revolutionary new therapy, we may soon see atezolizumab become a much more widely available form of treatment, giving those affected by cancer access to a potentially life-saving form of treatment in just seven minutes.
(With Reuters Inputs)
