The NHS has announced a significant expansion of cancer treatment access, with thousands of patients across England each year now eligible for a new injectable form of pembrolizumab — an immunotherapy that can be administered in under two minutes, compared to the two-hour sessions required for the previous intravenous version.
The injectable immunotherapy works by blocking a protein called PD-1, which acts as a brake on immune responses, allowing the immune system to recognise and attack cancer cells. The shift from intravenous to injectable administration represents not only a clinical advancement but a substantial reallocation of NHS resources toward treating more patients and reducing waiting times across the health service.
Expanding Treatment Access and Equity
Most of the 14,000 patients already taking pembrolizumab are expected to benefit from the new injectable version. The treatment will be given every three weeks as a one-minute injection or every six weeks as a two-minute injection. Combined with nivolumab, an immunotherapy injection that became available to up to 15,000 cancer patients one year ago, there are now two immunotherapies available for almost 30 types of cancer on the NHS. This expansion broadens access to potentially life-saving treatments across a wider range of cancer types, addressing a critical gap in treatment options for patients who previously had limited alternatives.
University hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS foundation trust and the East and North Hertfordshire teaching NHS trust will be among the first in England to provide the treatment, beginning the rollout of this expanded access across the health service.
Freeing Resources for Systemic Capacity
The new injectable form is estimated to save the NHS more than 100,000 hours of preparation and treatment time each year. This efficiency gain addresses a fundamental challenge facing the NHS: the need to treat more patients within existing resource constraints. By reducing the time required for each treatment session from approximately two hours to one or two minutes, the health service can redirect clinical capacity toward treating additional patients and reducing waiting times.
Prof Peter Johnson, the NHS national clinical director for cancer, framed the advancement in terms of patient dignity and systemic capacity: "This immunotherapy offers a lifeline for thousands of patients and it's fantastic that this new rapid jab can now take just a minute to deliver – meaning patients can get back to living their lives rather than spending hours in a hospital chair. Managing cancer treatment and regular hospital trips can be really exhausting, and not only will this innovation make therapy much quicker and more convenient for patients, it will help free up vital appointments for NHS teams to treat more people and continue to bring down waiting times."
James Richardson, the national specialty adviser for cancer drugs at NHS England, described the change as "a win-win innovation, because patients will spend far less time in hospital and, crucially, our clinical teams will have more capacity to care for others. The time saved through this change is a huge gain for the NHS, and demonstrates how we are continuing to modernise cancer care for the benefit of patients."
Patient Experience and Quality of Life
For patients already receiving cancer treatment, the reduction in hospital time represents a meaningful improvement in quality of life. Shirley Xerxes, an 89-year-old from St Albans, was among the first patients to receive the new treatment on the NHS. "I can't believe how little time it took," she said. "I was only in the chair for a matter of minutes instead of an hour or more. It's made such a difference and gives me more time to live my life, including spending more time gardening."
The patient experience reflects a broader principle: that healthcare systems should be designed not only for clinical efficacy but for the preservation of patients' autonomy, dignity, and capacity to engage in ordinary life activities during treatment.
Why This Matters:
Access to cancer treatment remains a critical determinant of health outcomes and survival rates. The expansion of immunotherapy options through the NHS demonstrates how public health institutions can leverage clinical innovation to extend treatment access more equitably across the patient population. The efficiency gains — 100,000 hours annually — represent resources that can be redirected toward reducing waiting times and treating additional patients, addressing systemic capacity constraints that have affected cancer care access. For individual patients, the reduction from two-hour sessions to one or two minutes preserves time, autonomy, and quality of life during treatment. The availability of two immunotherapy options for almost 30 cancer types reflects a commitment to broadening the range of patients who benefit from advanced treatments, rather than concentrating access among narrow populations. This expansion demonstrates how institutional coordination and resource reallocation within public health systems can serve both individual patient welfare and systemic equity.