NHS rolls out injectable cancer immunotherapy that could save patients hours in hospital
NHS England has announced that the subcutaneous form of the immunotherapy atezolizumab will be offered to about 5,000 patients in the next twelve months. The drug, made by Roche, is already used in the intravenous form to treat lung, liver, breast and urinary-tract cancers.
The new subcutaneous injection takes roughly seven minutes to administer; the intravenous infusion currently requires patients to spend about two hours in hospital. Following approval by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the NHS will roll the drug out gradually to regional cancer centres.
Data from the international IMscin001 trial show the subcutaneous form is comparable in efficacy with the intravenous form. The study of 245 patients found no significant difference in overall survival or progression-free survival between the two forms, with a similar side-effect profile.
NHS England's chief medical officer, Professor Sir Stephen Powis, told the BBC: "Faster administration of immunotherapy means patients spend less time in hospital. It also frees up chemotherapy chair capacity, which is a real bottleneck in our cancer services."
Professor Tim Maughan, president of the Royal College of Radiologists, endorsed the announcement: "Most of our cancer patients come to a chemo chair every three weeks for a year. Moving to a seven-minute injection is a time saving for them and for us." Maughan added that it would also reduce travel and companion-time burdens.
NICE puts the drug's per-patient annual hospital cost at around £70,000. That figure matches the intravenous form. The real saving comes from NHS workforce and room-time costs. One internal estimate suggests the switch could save about £24 million a year.
The clinical staffing mix is also different. The intravenous form requires a nurse and infusion equipment; the subcutaneous injection can be administered by a single nurse. This allows the NHS to use its broader regional hospital capacity more flexibly.
UK oncology units report that wait times for intravenous treatments have risen over the last 18 months from 7.4 weeks to 9.1 weeks. The NHS estimates that the switch to subcutaneous atezolizumab could shorten that wait by about 1.5 weeks by autumn 2026.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have yet to publish their decisions on adoption of the subcutaneous form. Wales' Secretary for Health and Social Care told BBC Wales: "We are watching this development, but we still need to do our own assessment in parallel with NICE for local rollout." A decision is expected by September 2026.
The spread of genetic-test-driven personalised treatments and faster delivery formats signal a new period for cancer care. The NHS currently prescribes 18 different immunotherapies; that list is expected to grow to 22 by next year.