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A new treatment for breast cancer will reduce the time some patients have to spend in the hospital from two and a half hours to five minutes.
The treatment, called Phesgo, is being rolled out across England by the NHS and will be offered to breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. It will be available to people with HER2-positive breast cancer, which accounts for 15% of all these cancers.
NHS England said the injection significantly reduces the risk of Covid-19 infection for cancer patients by reducing the time they have to spend in hospital.
Delyth Morgan, chief executive of the Breast Cancer Now charity, said Phesgo’s approval to the NHS was “fantastic news” for thousands of women who would benefit from a “faster and more treatment method” kind”.
She said: ‘By reducing the time patients have to spend in hospital, this more efficient method of treatment also promises to free up valuable time for healthcare professionals when the NHS is already under unprecedented strain by due to Covid-19. “
More than 3,600 new patients per year will benefit from the treatment, NHS England said.
Phesgo is a fixed-dose combination of the medicines pertuzumab and trastuzumab, both of which would previously have been given as separate intravenous infusions. It is used to treat all stages of HER2-positive breast cancer in combination with chemotherapy.
The treatment only takes five minutes to prepare and administer, compared to two infusions which can take up to two and a half hours, NHS England said.
Paula Lamb, 51, of Newton-le-Willows in St Helens, was one of the first patients to receive the treatment, being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014. She said: “It’s absolutely amazing to be one of the first people to receive this treatment via the NHS and it really couldn’t have happened at a better time as the lockdown is lifted and I can stop the shielding. “
Lamb added, “I’m currently on a combination of drugs that take about an hour and a half to two hours to administer all together, and I have to go to the hospital to have them every three weeks. Having a five minute treatment means I will have more time to walk around, garden, knit, and help my daughter practice her cricket skills. It really changes your life. “
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