Patients in England will be first to access seven-minute cancer treatment jab

[mysteryowl]

Source: The Guardian

NHS is first health system to offer injection to hundreds of patients which will cut treatment times by up to three quarters.
Patients in England will become the first in the world to benefit from a jab that treats cancer in seven minutes.
-snip-
The drug, also known as Tecentriq, treats different types of cancer, including lung, breast, liver and bladder cancers. It is given to about 3,600 patients in England each year.

-snip-
The drug is known as a checkpoint inhibitor and works by helping the immune system find and kill cancer cells.


Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/aug/29/patients-in-england-will-be-first-to-access-seven-minute-cancer-jab

---

[area51]

1. How interesting.

A socialized healthcare country being 1st and taking care of its people.

[Elessar Zappa]

2. Not that this reflects on socialized medicine

but Britain’s NHS is doing terribly at the moment. Tories have gutted it.

[mopinko]

4. yup. under staffed cuz pay is for shit.

[vanlassie]

7. Also understaffed because they told immigrant doctors to fuck off, in Brexit.

Their idiot MAGAs give ours a run for their money.

[progressoid]

13. Yup. Over 4000 fewer doctors because of Brexit.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/nov/27/brexit-worsened-shortage-nhs-doctors-eu

[Hortensis]

8. Yup. When conservatives get power, anywhere

(including socialist nations) or just anywhere money's inadequate (all socialized economies), healthcare funding gets CUT, or stays inadequate. But so much for this.

THIS is good news. Tecentriq is approved and used in the U.S. for some cancers.

The FDA has withdrawn approval for some types of bladder cancer because it failed postmarketing study. It wouldn't be given for my husband's nonmetastatic bladder cancer, anyway, so he'll continue with the same, less-convenient treatment that's been the gold standard for over 30 years.

[NBachers]

10. My family in London is moving back here. That's one of the reasons why.

[Hekate]

3. KnR Must read later

[mysteryowl]

5. Maybe America is not interested...

in shortening treatment/recovery. The drug companies and hospitals would take a huge cut in pay. The greedy ones are just that cruel.

[Maine Abu El Banat]

6. Exactly!!!!!

[pandr32]

9. Yep--all about profit--not care.

If the drug were to be approved here the injections would likely have to be administered at approved facilities and cost more than people could afford.

[mysteryowl]

12. Maybe it would be less expensive to fly to England for treatment.

Last edited Tue Aug 29, 2023, 08:27 PM - Edit history (1)

If this new drug works, Canada will start using it too and American's could go there. I think plane fare is cheaper to Canada.

[pandr32]

18. Yes, it would be cheaper to fly or drive to Canada.

[4lbs]

19. Depending on the efficacy of the drug, it might even be life-saving

Lemme see....

Spend $500,000 and a year or more taking cancer drugs in the US that might only be 40% effective at treating my cancer...

or

Spend $5,000 travelling to a country with that drug, spending maybe $1,000 on that drug (because I'm not a resident of that place or whatever), and have the drug be what, 80% effective at treating my cancer.


Hmm..... what will I do?

[pandr32]

23. Republicans will probably try to criminalize efforts to save money.

I get meds from Mexico and Canada by mail sometimes. Payment is getting harder as companies, such as Paypal, closed the option. An option is to use Bitcoin, which I will not use, and so instead send a check to a U.S. box that is picked up and cashed.
This, of course, won't work for drugs that need to be injected like my Nucala.
I am a Canadian by birth. I also have the option to travel to Canada and use Canadian health care. I live in Hawaii now, though. It is an option I am saving for when and if things get really serious.

[4lbs]

24. I try to stay far away from PayPal.

Once I learned it was infected/founded by Elon Musk, I told myself "Nope. No more for me."

Even after Ebay bought it, I'm still leary of it.

As for Canadian healthcare, I know of some Canadians that live in Washington, and make regular trips to Vancouver just for their medicines and the like. I think they live in Seattle or Tacoma, something like that. So the drive only takes a few hours every month. Maybe one day a month they spend it in Canada.

My cousin lives in Washington, and I think she gets her lupus medication from Canada. I believe it is called azathioprine (Azasan). Because it is much cheaper there, she is able to afford to get the name brand drug, for less than it costs in the US for the generic.

[pandr32]

25. Paypal has been helpful.

Yes, I hate it along with other corporations, but I have been able to use it with my daughter in Europe, with countless companies we do business with here, and to send money to relatives in Canada.
As a Canadian I love Canadian healthcare, but over my lifetime have seen inroads from conservatives and corporations with dollar signs in their eyes. Canadians need to stop digesting propaganda and stand up for their healthcare and related services.

[Hortensis]

11. Tecentriq is used here. Don't know about a cut in pay --

you do realize this treatment requires FEWER chargeable visits, right? And that for most cancers it's approved for, its big plus over other treatments is most often convenience?

[OneGrassRoot]

14. I never heard "jab" used until Covid...

has it always been used for vaccines and such - versus “shot” or “injection” - and I’ve missed it?

In my ignorance, my knee-jerk response links it to QAanon.

[cksmithy]

15. I learned the term "jab"

the first time while reading the BBC news site in the early 2000's. Also heard it many times on BBC News channel and British tv shows. I rather have had a jab than getting a shot. A jab is a little pinch, while a shot, to me is like being shot, painful and maybe you are going to die. Anyway, I can remember telling my husband, "oh, the brits call a shot a jab! Isn't that nice, better than being shot." I love British tv.

[OneGrassRoot]

17. Ah! Interesting. Thx! n/t

[4lbs]

20. My first exposure to the word came about 5 years ago, reading various BBC and Guardian articles.

Wouldn't have mattered to a guy I know, that is deathly afraid of needles.

To him, "A rose by any other name..." wouldn't have mattered.

Jab... Shot... To him, it's still a freaking needle puncturing your skin.

He would have taken one look at those hypodermics and screamed like a 3 year-old kid who dropped his ice cream cone.

Although watching some YT videos the past several years, I do remember most British people calling the vaccine a jab, and whenever someone in the US mentioned a shot, they would automatically think of a gun going off.

[GB_RN]

16. Amazing.

While it’s too bad this wasn’t available for my sister or mother when they were undergoing chemotherapy for BRCA1-related breast cancer back in 2008 and 2013, respectively (or for that matter, my maternal grandmother back in 1977-83. Chemo wasn’t anywhere near as advanced then as the last 20 years, and she died at age 63), this looks to be a major game changer for many patients going forward. Glad to hear it!

I wonder what other cancers it treats as the article says “including”. I didn’t see a longer list in the full article, either. Research time, I guess…

[flamingdem]

21. Sounds like Keytruda

No ads on cable for this one. Keytruda is only given under certain circumstances here and is very expensive.

[electric_blue68]

22. Good Luck, Brits!