Tens of thousands of cancer patients across the UK are set to benefit from a new one-minute injection being rolled out by the NHS. This innovative immunotherapy treatment instructs the body’s immune system to identify and destroy cancer cells, proving effective against a range of diseases including lung, breast, head and neck, and cervical cancers.
Previously, patients receiving the drug pembrolizumab (Keytruda) endured lengthy intravenous drips. The introduction of this new injectable form dramatically reduces treatment time by up to 90 per cent. Among the first to receive the rapid new jab on the NHS was 89-year-old Shirley Xerxes from St Albans, who is battling bowel cancer.
She was treated at the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, part of East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust.
She told the Press Association: “Having the injection has been great and the nurse was so good, so kind.
“I just had it in my tummy. But it’s not as quick as a Covid jab. It takes a couple of minutes.
“I feel appreciative, really. I mean, we don’t have to pay for it. It’s good, I’m very appreciative. It’s been wonderful.
“Now I can spend more time on gardening, especially now spring is here.”
Another patient being treated at Mount Vernon, Stephen Friend, 67, who has melanoma, said: “This new process takes away a lot of the stress, I think.
“Up until now I’ve been extremely healthy, I’ve not really used the NHS up until now. And it’s just been amazing.”
Currently, hospital pharmacy teams need to carefully prepare the drug in intravenous bags under sterile conditions, which can be time-consuming for NHS staff.
Moving to the ready-to-use injection will free up staff time.
Around 14,000 patients start pembrolizumab therapy each year in England, and most are now expected to move to the jabs.
The treatment is given every three weeks as a one-minute injection or every six weeks as a two-minute injection, depending on what type of cancer people have.
Vikash Dodhia, head of pharmacy at Mount Vernon, told the Press Association: “We believe Shirley was actually the first patient in the country to receive that particular treatment.
“So generally with immunotherapy treatment, patients have to have a IV drip, essentially that’s probably about 100mls – so about a third of a coke can almost.
“That’s got to go through the through the veins and it will take about half an hour or 45 minutes for that to be administered to them.
“The patient also then has to have a cannula inserted into their veins to receive that particular treatment.
“With this new way of giving it, it’s 4mls – less than a teaspoon… So for a patient, it means they get all of that time back.
“For staff, if you’re able to give the treatments much quicker, that means you can actually treat more patients through the treatment chairs.
“So in a unit like this we are able to then accommodate more patients in a given day and actually treat patients quicker.
“And we all know, particularly in cancer, the sooner you start the treatment, the better benefit there is.
“And the drug itself, in terms of cost to the NHS, is exactly the same.”
Professor Peter Johnson, NHS national clinical director for cancer, said: “This immunotherapy offers a lifeline for thousands of patients and it’s fantastic that this new rapid jab can now take just a minute to deliver – meaning patients can get back to living their lives rather than spending hours in a hospital chair.
“Managing cancer treatment and regular hospital trips can be really exhausting, and not only will this innovation make therapy much quicker and more convenient for patients, it will help free up vital appointments for NHS teams to treat more people and continue to bring down waiting times.”
Pembrolizumab, manufactured by MSD, works by blocking a protein called PD-1, which acts as a brake on immune responses, releasing the immune system to recognise and attack cancer cells.
MSD analysis suggests the injection cuts the amount of time staff spend on preparing treatment by 44%.
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: “As a cancer survivor, I know how important quick treatment is, and this rollout will offer quicker, more convenient care, saving patients time and helping them in their recovery with less time in hospital.
“Not only that – it’ll also free up valuable time so clinicians can care for even more people and potentially save even more lives.”
John McNeill, oncology business unit director at MSD in the UK said: “This innovation offers a practical, patient-centred solution to improve productivity, capacity, and convenience in NHS cancer care.”
