Patients in East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire are to benefit from a formulation of a drug that is used in the treatment of 14 different types of cancer.
Humber Health Partnership, the partnership running Hull University Teaching Hospitals and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Foundation Trust, has become one of the first NHS organisations in the country to introduce an injectable form of an immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab, also known as Keytruda.
The rapid injection, which takes only two minutes, can be used in the treatment of 14 different cancers including lung, breast, cervical and head and neck, meaning patients have to spend less of their time in hospital undergoing treatment.
Dr Victoria Brown, Consultant in Oncology at the Queen’s Centre, Castle Hill Hospital, said: “This new injectable form of the immunotherapy drug reduces the time treatment takes by up to 90pc.
“While we already use the drug to deliver intravenous (IV) infusions, patients have to come into hospital for hours to receive the medication through an IV drip.
“Delivery the same drug by injection can be done in a minimum of two minutes so it’ll be much better for patients who will be free to get on with their lives instead of spending so much time in hospital, undergoing treatment.”
Pembrolizumab works by triggering immune cells to kill cancer cells and is already used to deliver IV infusions, which can take up to two hours per session, to patients with cancer in Hull, the East Riding and North Lincolnshire.
However, some of those patients will now be among 14,000 patients around the country to benefit from the more convenient treatment, given every three weeks as a two-minute injection or every six weeks as a four-minute injection, depending on the type of cancer.
Dr Brown said: “Not only does this reduce the time patients need to come into hospital for treatment, it means our day unit will be able to see and treat more people waiting for treatment.
“As well as helping patients and clinicians, it also reduces the time hospital pharmacy teams have to take to prepare IV bags for infusion so it will also have a positive impact on the wider NHS.”
Matron Samantha Pickering said around 288 existing patients in East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire will benefit from the shorter treatment time, with all new patients who would benefit from the drug starting on injections from now.
She said: “Research shows patients who have treatment in injectable form find it to be more comfortable and it has a reduced psychological impact.
“In addition to this being a quicker method of delivery, thanks to the “fast chairs” in our Day Unit, patient visits will become every quicker.”