NHS Says New ‘Super-Jab’ Will Treat 15 Cancers And ‘Transform Lives’

According to the NHS, thousands of patients in England are about to benefit from a new five-minute ‘super-jab’ that can treat 15 types of cancer that will ‘transform lives’.

The NHS is the first health service in Europe to offer the injection which, officials claim will save around a year’s worth of treatment.

The Express reports: The jab is an injectable form of immunotherapy, nivolumab. This means patients can receive their fortnightly or monthly treatment in five minutes instead of up to an hour via an IV drip.

It can be used to treat 15 cancer types, including skin, bladder, and oesophagus cancer, and it is estimated around 1,200 patients in England per month could benefit.

The UK’s medicines regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), approved use of the injection yesterday (April 30).

In clinical trials, the NHS reported that patients were “highly satisfied” with the under-the-skin injection. They “preferred” it to the IV form of the drug which takes 30 to 60 minutes every two weeks or four weeks, depending on the cancer type.

Around two in five patients who currently receive IV nivolumab, which is one of the most widely used cancer treatments, should be eligible for the new jab.

NHS cancer services are now preparing to treat the first patients with the new treatment next month when supplies of the product are received in the UK.

Professor Peter Johnson, NHS England national clinical director for cancer said: “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.

“This treatment is used for 15 different types of the disease, so it will free up thousands of valuable clinicians’ time every year, allowing teams to treat even more patients and helping hospital capacity.