Newcastle hospital gives world’s ‘first’ anti-cancer injection

A hospital in north-east England says it has become the first in the world to administer an “anti-cancer injection”.

Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital says it reduces the amount of time taken to give treatment to patients as well as being more comfortable for them.

The current way of giving the immunotherapy drug atezolizumab is using a cannula – a thin tube put into veins in the arm or hand in a process taking up to an hour.

By injection it can take as little as seven minutes to administer, health chiefs say.

Claire McHugh, from Newcastle, was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) in 2021, which accounts for about one-in-seven lung cancers.

The 49-year-old found having the drug via a cannula was an “uncomfortable” experience.

She was given chemotherapy for three months and since then has been having immunotherapy treatment every four weeks at the hospital.

“The injection is much quicker, so I’m pleased to be receiving my treatment this way,” she said.

“I’m taking each day as it comes. My daughter has since had another baby and I absolutely love spending time with my grandkids,” she added.

Ms McHugh’s consultant, Prof Alastair Greystoke, said the Freeman’s Northern Centre for Cancer Care was the first location chosen to use the procedure because it was a “large centre with many patients who could benefit” and “had close working between doctors, nurses and pharmacists”.

He added 54 patients who have lung, liver and breast cancer have been treated using the new method as of the end of January.

The hospital said the treatment was at no extra cost to the NHS due to an existing commercial deal negotiated between NHS England and the manufacturer Roche.