A major medical breakthrough is expected to happen soon as England is going to roll out the world's first seven-minute cancer treatment jab. "Drug treatment times for some NHS cancer patients will be slashed by up to three quarters, thanks to an anti-cancer injection that takes as little as seven minutes to administer," NHS said in an official statement.
With this, the patients will be administered atezolizumab under the skin injection. "Currently, patients receive the life-extending immunotherapy atezolizumab (Tencentriq) in hospital directly into their veins via a drug transfusion. It usually takes around 30 minutes to administer intravenous atezolizumab, but for some patients this can be up to an hour when it can be difficult to access a vein," the NHS said. Now, the drug will be given under the skin.
What is atezolizumab?
This is an immunotherapy drug that enables one's immune system to trace and destroy the cancerous cells. This is currently being given to patients with cancer in lungs, breast, liver, and bladder. The drug is made by Genentech, a Roche (ROG.S) company.
It is anticipated the majority of the approximately 3,600 patients starting treatment of atezolizumab annually in England will switch to the time-saving injection.
This will free up valuable time for NHS cancer teams
While on one hand the shorter duration of the drug administration proves to be promising, on the other hand health experts are happy that this will be helpful in freeing up valuable time for NHS cancer teams. “The world-first introduction of this treatment will mean that hundreds of patients can spend less time at the hospital and will free up valuable time in NHS chemotherapy units," NHS National Director for Cancer Professor Peter Johnson has said.
