Patients in Huddersfield will soon have access to a faster cancer treatment as the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust joins a national rollout of a new one-minute immunotherapy injection. This new treatment option is expected to significantly reduce the time patients spend in hospital for their care.
The injection is a new version of the existing drug pembrolizumab, also known as Keytruda. While the previous method required an intravenous infusion that could take up to two hours, the new injectable form can be administered in as little as 60 seconds. This change represents a reduction in treatment administration time of up to 90 percent.
The treatment, which is manufactured by MSD, works by blocking a protein in the body that restricts immune responses. By blocking this protein, the drug helps the patient’s own immune system to better recognise and attack cancer cells. It is suitable for 14 different types of cancer, including lung, breast, cervical, and head and neck cancers.
According to NHS England, the treatment will be given every three weeks as a one-minute injection, or every six weeks as a two-minute injection, depending on the specific cancer type. Roughly 14,000 patients in England begin pembrolizumab therapy each year, and the majority are expected to benefit from this more convenient approach.
The local trust is among the first in the country to start ordering the new treatment. This development follows the initial rollout at the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, managed by the East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust, where patients like 89-year-old Shirley Xerxes were among the first in the UK to receive the injection.
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