New five-minute 'super-jab' from NHS will treat 15 cancers and 'transform lives'
Thousands of patients in England are set to benefit from a new five-minute ‘super-jab’ that can treat 15 types of cancer that will ‘transform lives’. The NHS is the first health service in Europe to offer the injection, which will save around a year’s worth of treatment, officials say.
The jab is an injectable form of immunotherapy, nivolumab. This means patients can receive their fortnightly or monthly treatment in five minutes instead of up to an hour via an IV drip.
It can be used to treat 15 cancer types, including skin, bladder, and oesophagus cancer, and it is estimated around 1,200 patients in England per month could benefit.
The UK’s medicines regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), approved use of the injection yesterday (April 30).
In clinical trials, the NHS reported that patients were “highly satisfied” with the under-the-skin injection. They “preferred” it to the IV form of the drug which takes 30 to 60 minutes every two weeks or four weeks, depending on the cancer type.
Around two in five patients who currently receive IV nivolumab, which is one of the most widely used cancer treatments, should be eligible for the new jab.
NHS cancer services are now preparing to treat the first patients with the new treatment next month when supplies of the product are received in the UK.
Professor Peter Johnson, NHS England national clinical director for cancer said: “Immunotherapy has already been a huge step forward for many NHS patients with cancer, and being able to offer it as an injection in minutes means we can make the process far more convenient.
"This treatment is used for 15 different types of the disease, so it will free up thousands of valuable clinicians’ time every year, allowing teams to treat even more patients and helping hospital capacity.
“And this is just the latest development in the NHS’s ongoing commitment to provide patients with the latest cancer therapies and treatment options that truly transform lives”.
It is thought that the jab could save around 1,000 hours of treatment time for patients and clinicians every month – the equivalent of more than one full year of time annually.
Clinical pharmacist and national specialty adviser for cancer drugs, James Richardson, added: “I am delighted that NHS patients across England will soon be able to benefit from this quicker-to-administer, effective treatment, that can be used to treat a range of cancer types, including skin cancer and solid tumours originating in the kidneys.
"This is a significant advancement in cancer treatment, with the potential to improve the lives of thousands of patients each month”.
The faster treatment comes at no extra cost to the NHS due to an agreement between NHS England and the manufacturer Bristol Myers Squibb.
Daily Express
