England to rollout world-first seven-minute cancer treatment jab
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[August 30, 2023]
(Reuters) - Britain's state-run national health service will be
the first in the world to offer an injection that treats cancer to
hundreds of patients in England which could cut treatment times by up to
three quarters.
Following approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory
Agency (MHRA), NHS England said on Tuesday 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 difficult 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.
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Boxes of Tecentriq from Genentech are
seen at the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah in
Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S., July 22, 2022. REUTERS/George Frey/File
Photo
Atezolizumab - made by Genentech, a
Roche 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 onto the time-saving injection.
But added that patients receiving intravenous chemotherapy in
combination with atezolizumab may remain on the transfusion.
(Reporting by Farouq Suleiman; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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