June 28, 2025
Approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the injectable will cut down on immunotherapy treatment times.
Cancer patients in England now have the option to take a one-shot immunotherapy treatment.
The injectable drug, nivolumab, will be administered to up to 15,000 patients. Approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the injectable will cut down on immunotherapy treatment times. Traditional immunotherapy is administered via intravenous drip over the course of an hour. Now, patients will receive the benefits of the “jab” in under 5 minutes. The injectable is suitable for 15 different cancers, including lung, bowel, kidney, bladder, oesophageal, skin, and head and neck cancer.
NHS England’s National Clinical Director for Cancer, Professor Peter Johnson, spoke to The Guardian about the benefits of the new treatment, with the service being available to more patients being the most notable advantage.
“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,” he said.
Immunotherapy is a vital tool in fighting cancer. The jab, as well as intravenous therapy, binds to the protein PD-1. The binding of the protein blocks cancer from attacking the body’s healthy T-cells. Swift administration of medication can presumably aid in the healing process. In turn, the quicker cells are blocked from mutating in the body, the slower the progression of cancer.
Naser Turabi, the director of evidence and implementation at Cancer Research UK, says the science community is in the “golden age” of research. He hopes the English government seizes the opportunity to be leaders in the field of cancer prevention and care.
“The government has the opportunity to build on this with the upcoming national cancer plan for England, which must provide investment and reform for the NHS in order to get more cutting-edge treatments and technologies to patients as quickly as possible,” Turabi said to The Guardian.
This initiative follows the successful introduction of another rapid cancer jab, Phesgo, in 2021, which has similarly cut breast cancer treatment times. The new injection comes at no additional cost to the NHS.
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