The UK will be the first country in Europe to offer a five-minute jab, that can treat up to 15 different cancer types. Following approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the NHS will be the first in Europe to offer the treatment which will be rolled out in the next month. The treatment ‘nivolumab’ is a form of immunotherapy and can be administered in five minutes in place of an hour long IV drip. The injection can treat up to 15 cancers including skin, bladder and oesophageal cancer, and can be received fortnightly or monthly.
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‘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,’ said Professor Peter Johnson, NHS England National Clinical Director for Cancer. ‘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.’
The treatment has the potential to save clinicians over a year of their time. Clinical trials found that the injection takes 2-5 minutes to administer, therefore saving around 1,000 hours of treatment time a month. Patients from clinical trials were found to prefer nivolumab over the hour-long traditional IV form, with 40% of patients taking the IV already eligible for the jab.
‘Reducing treatment times from an hour to just minutes is a huge boost for people going through cancer care, helping them to spend less time in hospital,’ said Elizabeth O’Mahony, NHS England Chief Financial Officer. ‘It’s also a major win for the NHS, saving the equivalent of a year’s worth of treatment time which can be used to deliver other care.’