England to be world-first to offer ‘under the skin’ injection for cancer, cutting treatment time to seven minutes

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Also read: HDFC AMC is launching a fresh edition of its Cancer Cure Fund in collaboration with ICS Atezolizumab, also known as Tecentriq, is an immunotherapy drug produced by Genentech, a Roche company. It works by enhancing a patient's immune system to identify and eliminate cancer cells. Traditionally, the drug is administered through intravenous infusion, which can take up to an hour and can be challenging for some patients due to difficulties in accessing veins.

Currently NHS cancer patients are offered treatment by transfusion with a range of cancers, including lung, breast, liver and bladder. "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," said Dr Alexander Martin, a consultant oncologist at West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust. The new injection method is expected to take approximately seven minutes, significantly reducing treatment times.

This change is expected to not only provide more convenient and faster care for patients but also free up more time for cancer care teams. Also read: Can aspartame cause cancer? WHO not convinced. This is what it has to say "It takes approximately seven minutes, compared with 30 to 60 minutes for the current method of an intravenous infusion," said Marius Scholtz, Medical Director at Roche Products Limited as reported by Reuters.

NHS England anticipates that the majority of the roughly 3,600 patients who start atezolizumab treatment each year in England will switch to the time-saving injection method. However, patients who receive intravenous chemotherapy in combination with atezolizumab may continue with transfusion-based administration. (With inputs from Reuters)