2023-08-29 20:21:09
Atezolizumab or Tecentriq – an antibody – can be given by subcutaneous injection for patients with certain cancers in the UK. This considerably reduces the duration of its administration.
Patients in the UK will become the first in the world to have a monoclonal antibody injected within minutes to treat various cancers, reports The Guardian.
After gaining approval from the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulator (MHRA), the NHS will be the first healthcare system to roll out the subcutaneous injection of atezolizumab to hundreds of patients each year. Treatment time for some cancer patients will be reduced by up to three-quarters with atezolizumab.
The drug, also known as Tecentriq, treats different types of cancer, including lung, breast, liver and bladder cancers. It is given to around 3,600 patients in England each year, so far only intravenously.
Less than 7 minutes instead of an hour
Atezolizumab works by helping the immune system find and kill cancer cells. This injection, instead of an intravenous infusion, allows the patient to benefit from this antibody in just seven minutes instead of the 30 minutes or even an hour usually required.
“The arrival of the administration of this treatment by injection means that hundreds of patients will be able to spend less time in hospital and will free up time in the chemotherapy units,” said Peter Johnson, director of the NHS.
The Swiss laboratory Roche, which develops Tecentriq, has indicated that the Food and Drug Administration – equivalent to the HAS in the United States – and the European Medicines Agency are also working on a possible approval of the drug by this route of administration. .
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