Cancer patients across the world will watch with bated breath as the National Health Service (NHS) England, the UK’s publicly funded healthcare system has become the first health system in the world to roll out the seven-minute injection to hundreds of patients each year. 

The  move  aims to bring speedier treatment to cancer patients and gives them more comfortable care. “The jab takes as little as 7 minutes to administer,” the NHS England said in a statement.

Currently, the patients receive the life-extending immunotherapy atezolizumab in hospital directly into their veins via a drug transfusion (intravenously), which can take from 30 minutes to up to an hour to administer, the statement said. This anti-cancer jab, a subcutaneous or under-the-skin injection, is swifter and is expected to enhance the patients’ experience, it said.

The quicker administration could also free up valuable time for NHS cancer teams, it said. The vaccine has been approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the statement said. The healthcare system of England anticipates the majority of the approximately 3,600 patients starting their annual atezolizumab treatment in England to switch onto the time-saving injection.

Atezolizumab is an immunotherapy drug, currently offered by transfusion, that empowers a patient’s own immune system to seek and destroy cancerous cells. The drug is administered to patients with a range of cancers, including lung, breast, liver and bladder.

However, patients receiving intravenous chemotherapy in combination with atezolizumab may remain on the transfusion, the statement added. “Maintaining the best possible quality of life for cancer patients is vital, so the introduction of faster under-the-skin injections will make an important difference,” said NHS National Director for Cancer, Peter Johnson. NHS England said the faster treatment came at no extra cost because of its existing commercial deal negotiated with the manufacturer Roche.

Marius Scholtz, medical director for Roche, added: “Injecting Tecentriq under the skin offers a faster treatment option as it takes approximately seven minutes, compared with 30 to 60 minutes for the current method of an intravenous infusion of Tecentriq.

 “We are delighted that NHS patients across England have access to the subcutaneous PD-L1 cancer immunotherapy injection.”