The world’s first seven-minute cancer treatment injection will be made available in England. The National Health Service (NHS) of Britain will become the first healthcare organization in the world to offer this medical innovation that can cut the length of therapy by up to 75 percent.
Injections of atezolizumab will be administered “under the skin” to hundreds of patients who had immunotherapy, according to a statement from NHS England on Tuesday.
This will give oncology teams additional time to treat patients. The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has given the shot the go-ahead.
Currently, hospitals use medication transfusions to administer the life-extending treatment atezolizumab (Tencentriq) to patients. The average time needed to deliver intravenous atezolizumab is about 30 minutes.
However, it can take up to an hour for certain patients. The medication will now be injected beneath the skin.
What is atezolizumab?
A targeted treatment medication known as an immune checkpoint inhibitor is atezolizumab.
This treatment is used to treat certain adult non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) types, hepatocellular carcinoma, melanoma, urothelial carcinoma, triple-negative breast cancer, etc. either alone or in combination with other chemotherapeutic drugs.
This monoclonal antibody-based medication enables the immune system to locate and eliminate malignant cells. The medicine is produced by Genentech, a division of Roche (ROG.S).
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According to reports, the majority of the 3,600 patients who begin atezolizumab therapy each year in the nation will switch to the quicker injection. The NHS also said that patients who are getting atezolizumab and intravenous chemotherapy together may continue receiving transfusions.
What effect will atezolizumab injections “under the skin” have on cancer patients?
According to Dr. Alexander Martin, a consultant oncologist at the West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, this approval would not only allow them to provide patients with more convenient and quicker care, but it will also allow the teams to handle more patients throughout the day.
The switch is reportedly scheduled to occur in the coming weeks, and qualified patients receiving atezolizumab medication will gain from using the less painful and speedier subcutaneous injection technique.
The NHS will not incur any new expenses as a result of the treatment, according to a Benzinga article, because NHS England and the pharmaceutical company Roche have an existing commercial relationship.
Another cancer medication, Phesgo, was successfully introduced to the nation in 2021. According to reports, this therapy cut the length of time it took to treat breast cancer in the NHS to just a few minutes.
