New blood cancer injection given green light by UK regulators

Patients in the UK with one of the most common forms of blood cancercan now benefit from a new injection. MabThera (rituximab) subcutaneous (SC) can be administered in around five minutes, compared to the current two and a half hour intravenous (IV) infusion.

This faster way of delivering MabThera, from Swiss pharma major Roche (ROG: SIX), will now be available to around 2,400 patients per year with follicular lymphoma (FL), a form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). MabThera SC has been granted a license for use in the UK based on data from the SABRINA study,which showed that switching from IV to SC administration provides comparable efficacy of MabThera in patients with FL.

Andrew Davies, consultant in medical oncology at the University Hospital Southampton, said: “The number of new cancer cases in the UK is expected to rise by 45% between 2007 and 2030. This increasing demand for chemotherapy units places resources under tremendous pressure. The SC form of MabThera is an innovative new formulation that can help us make more efficient use of resources and improves the experience of our patients. These patients would now expect to gain over two hours from each visit to the hospital for their anti-cancer therapy and up to 43 hours over the course of their treatment.”