Latest news with #NaserTurabi
Muscat Daily
06-05-2025
- Health
- Muscat Daily
Everything you need to know about Nivolumab
The cancer beating jab approved by UK NHS London, UK – A promising breakthrough in cancer treatment is grabbing attention. Nivolumab, known by its brand name Opdivo, has been approved for administration by UK NHS (National Health Services). This simple, under-the-skin injection takes just 3 to 5 minutes to administer, and helps fight 14 different cancers. What is Nivolumab? Nivolumab is a type of immunotherapy – a class of treatment that harnesses the body's own immune system to fight cancer. It belongs to a group of drugs called checkpoint inhibitors, and it specifically targets a protein on T-cells called PD-1 (programmed death-1). Normally, some cancer cells produce signals that stop the immune system from attacking them. Nivolumab blocks these signals, allowing T-cells to stay active and attack the cancer. What's new about the injection? Until recently, Nivolumab was given through an intravenous (IV) drip, taking up to an hour. Now, thanks to approval from the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), patients can receive the same drug as a quick 3–5 minute injection under the skin (subcutaneous).The switch to injection helps save time for both patients and hospitals. Additionally. It makes treatment more comfortable and convenient. The injection is expected to free up significant capacity across NHS cancer services. Which cancers can it treat? This new injection is approved for 14 different types of cancer, including:• Lung cancer• Bowel (colorectal) cancer• Kidney cancer• Bladder cancer• Oesophageal cancer• Skin cancer (melanoma)• Head and neck cancers• Liver cancer• Stomach cancer Is it effective? In a Phase 3 clinical trial, researchers compared the new injectable form with the traditional IV version. The results showed comparable drug levels in the body (pharmacokinetics) There was a similar safety profile and had equivalent tumour response ratesThis means the injection works just as well as the IV drip. It's not a new drug – just a new and faster way of giving it. How many patients could benefit? Up to 15,000 patients a year across England could benefit from the injection version of Nivolumab, according to NHS England. About 1,200 new patients a month are expected to switch from IV to injection, with most new patients starting on the injectable option. What about side effects? Like all cancer drugs, Nivolumab can cause side effects. These might include fatigue, skin rash, nausea, or inflammation in organs such as the lungs or liver. A full list is available in the Patient Information Leaflet on the MHRA website. What experts are saying Prof Peter Johnson, NHS England's National Clinical Director for Cancer, says, 'Being able to offer Nivolumab as an injection in minutes makes the process far more convenient. It allows teams to treat even more patients and free up hospital capacity.'Naser Turabi of Cancer Research UK adds, 'Innovations like this are vital for treating cancer patients sooner and more efficiently. We're in a golden age of cancer research.' The bottom line Nivolumab isn't a cure-all, but it's a powerful tool in the cancer treatment arsenal – and with the new injection form, it's more accessible than ever. If you or a loved one is undergoing cancer treatment, it's worth asking your specialist whether this quicker option is available and appropriate.
The Guardian
04-05-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
NHS in England urged to become ‘early intervention service' on cancer
Too many people are at risk of becoming 'martyrs' by not getting symptoms of cancer checked out because they do not want to burden the NHS, a report warns, which calls for earlier testing to diagnose those at higher risk. The report, by the health consultancy Incisive Health, sets out ways in which the NHS in England can catch more cancers early and thus save lives by becoming more of an 'early intervention service'. It comes as the government draws up its first dedicated cancer strategy since 2015 . Evidence has shown that a desire not to 'bother' a GP is more common among those with potential signs of cancer in the UK than in other countries. Between a fifth and a third of people in Britain would not want to waste the doctor's time. Cancer specialists have urged people with symptoms such as fatigue, bleeding and weight loss to get investigated urgently, so they can start treatment sooner if they do have it. Failure to act quickly helps to explain Britain's dismal record, by international standards, in diagnosing cancer early. Although cancer survival has risen, the UK still lags behind other countries in identifying cases early, despite initiatives to encourage people to act on symptoms more promptly. 'People shouldn't be discouraged from going to their doctor if something doesn't feel right for them. They aren't 'bothering' their GP or 'burdening' the NHS,' said Naser Turabi, Cancer Research UK's director of evidence and interpretation. Overcoming reluctance to seek help is vital if Britain is to diagnose more cancers at stages one and two , before they have spread, and when they are more curable, the report says. It was written by Incisive's Mike Birtwistle , who interviewed doctors, senior NHS personnel and key figures in cancer in his research. 'No one wants people with symptoms of cancer to become martyrs due to holding off seeking medical attention because they didn't want to bother their GP or overload the NHS. Too many people avoid seeking help because they know how stretched the NHS is,' said Birtwistle. 'This kind of martyrdom to protect the NHS results in too many people being diagnosed at a late stage, damaging their survival chances.' The NHS should be 'mobilising people with signs and symptoms' of cancer, the report says. 'There should also be a continued role for raising public awareness of signs and symptoms and – most importantly – motivating them to act. Experts highlighted that people are often conditioned not to 'bother' the NHS.' It highlights that GPs can also discourage patients from having a check-up because they do not want to add to the strain on already pressured hospitals. 'Primary healthcare professionals have a role in previously guarding NHS resources, which can act as a deterrent for seeking help.' Studies have found that Britain takes longer than many other countries to diagnose cancer . Survival rates are up to 25 years behind those in other European countries and lives are being lost as a result, Macmillan Cancer Support analysis found last year. The number of people in the UK being diagnosed with cancer every year has risen to about 412,400 – one every 90 seconds – due to the ageing population and lifestyle factors such as obesity and alcohol. About 167,000 people die a year – 460 a day – from what is Britain's biggest killer after heart disease. The NHS has consistently failed to meet a target to diagnose 75% of cancers at stages one and two between 2018 and 2024, with only 60% spotted by then, the report reveals. But it could increase early detections by: Offering prostate cancer screening to men at higher risk of the disease, including black men and those with a family history or specific genetic mutations. Extending lung cancer checks to people who have been exposed to passive smoking or live in areas of high pollution. Sign up to Headlines UK Get the day's headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion Assessing people for pancreatic cancer who have been diagnosed with diabetes and lost weight. Extending liver health checks, which are already offered to some people at higher risk of liver cancer and provided at GP surgeries, homeless shelters and sexual health clinics. Assessing the health of the oesophagus (food pipe) in people who have taken drugs that tackle stomach acid, called proton pump inhibitors, as that can increase the risk of oesophageal cancer. The government should use its forthcoming ten-year health plan and the cancer plan to embed a more proactive approach to cancer detection in the NHS, Birtwistle said. But the NHS should focus on improving attendance rates for its three cancer screening programmes – for breast, bowel and cervical cancer – before introducing screening initiatives that may not be based on good evidence, Turabi said. Hospitals should offer more convenient appointments, more online booking and an at-home testing kit to those who have shunned an offer of cervical screening, he said. Sarah Woolnough, the chief executive of the King's Fund thinktank, said: 'There's strong evidence that finding cancer early leads to better treatment and survival, so we should redouble efforts to make community access to prevention and early detection services as easy and convenient as possible.' The NHS was diagnosing and treating more early-stage cancers than ever, when the chances of a good outcome were higher, said Prof Sir Stephen Powis, NHS England's national medical director. About 7,300 people a year are being diagnosed at stage one or two than before the Covid pandemic. 'There are many reasons why people are reluctant to come forward and get checked, from not recognising the key signs and symptoms of cancer to not wanting to burden the NNS unnecessarily,' Powis said. The health service is improving early diagnosis through approaches such as offering lung checks to smokers and ex-smokers in hi-tech mobile scanning trucks in supermarket car parks, Powis added. They have led to thousands of people being diagnosed earlier than would otherwise have happened.
The Guardian
30-04-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Cancer patients in England to be first in Europe to be offered immunotherapy jab
Up to 15,000 cancer patients a year could be treated with a quick injection, NHS England has announced. It is the first health service in Europe to offer patients the injectable form of the immunotherapy drug nivolumab. The injection takes three to five minutes to administer and is suitable for 15 different cancers, including lung, bowel, kidney, bladder, oesophageal, skin and head and neck cancer. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has approved injectable nivolumab, known as Opdivo, as an alternative to administering the drug via an intravenous drip, which can take up to an hour. With patients needing treatment fortnightly or monthly, NHS England said the move would save more than a year's worth of treatment time each year. Prof Peter Johnson, NHS England's national clinical director for cancer, said the time savings would 'allow teams to treat even more patients' and free up hospital capacity. 'Immunotherapy has already been a huge step forward for many NHS patients with cancer, and being able to offer it as an injection in minutes means we can make the process far more convenient,' he said. Nivolumab helps the immune system fight cancer by blocking signals from tumour cells that stop the immune system from attacking them. It binds to a protein called PD-1 (programmed death-1) on T-cells, a type of immune cell. This blocks cancer cells from switching off T-cells, allowing the immune system to detect and destroy cancer cells. NHS England said about 1,200 patients a month could benefit from moving to the jab, and that most new patients would be likely to receive it. The injections will not cost the NHS more than for the intravenous infusion, after NHS England and the manufacturer Bristol Myers Squibb negotiated a price agreement. Naser Turabi, the director of evidence and implementation at Cancer Research UK, said: 'Innovations like this will be vital for treating cancer patients sooner and more efficiently. We're in a golden age of cancer research, and it's essential that our health service continues to adapt to deliver the best possible care for patients. 'The government has the opportunity to build on this with the upcoming national cancer plan for England, which must provide investment and reform for the NHS in order to get more cutting-edge treatments and technologies to patients as quickly as possible.'
Telegraph
09-04-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
Prostate cancer spit test ‘brings national screening a step closer'
A prostate cancer spit test has brought a national screening programme for the disease a step closer, experts have said. The saliva test, which can be done at home, was proven to be more accurate at detecting prostate cancer than existing tests offered by the NHS in a breakthrough study published last year. Their comments come a day after Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, declared that he would like to see a screening programme for what is the most common cancer in men – if the decision was 'evidence-based'. The UK National Screening Committee (NSC), which is responsible for such programmes, is examining the latest research. The current prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test's tendency to over-diagnose patients who would have lived happily without needing treatment has meant that officials have resisted calls for a national screening programme. But experts believe that the saliva test could be a screening option after the study showed it reduced the number of false positive results and picked up a higher proportion of aggressive cancers than the PSA test. Naser Turabi, director of evidence and implementation at Cancer Research UK, said: 'Right now, there's no reliable method to detect aggressive prostate cancer, but this study brings us a step closer to finding the disease sooner in those people who need treatment.' The spit test allows scientists to check a man's DNA for 130 genetic variants that have been linked to the cancer. Its rollout could lead to fewer men being sent for unnecessary invasive procedures, better targeting those with aggressive forms of the disease at risk of spreading. Researchers from the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust found the saliva test identified more men with prostate cancer and picked up more aggressive forms of the disease than the PSA test. The PSA test is not routinely offered, but can be requested by men over age 50 from their GP. It is a blood test that detects the amount of a protein linked to cancer in the blood, however, its accuracy is a subject of controversy amongst scientists. The research, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, used the spit test to assess 6,300 men aged 55 to 69 in Britain. Some 468 men that the test deemed to be at high risk agreed to undergo a biopsy, of whom 40 per cent were diagnosed with prostate cancer. This compares with 25 per cent of men with high PSA scores, who typically go on to be diagnosed with the disease. The spit test also diagnosed a higher proportion of men with aggressive cancers that spread more quickly. They accounted for 55.1 per cent of the 187 diagnoses, compared with the 35.5 typically picked up by a PSA test. Ros Eeles, a professor at the ICR and a consultant at the Royal Marsden, said the test could ' turn the tide on prostate cancer'. 'We have shown that a relatively simple, inexpensive spit test to identify men of European heritage at higher risk due to their genetic make-up is an effective tool to catch prostate cancer early,' she said. 'We can identify men at risk of aggressive cancers who need further tests and spare the men who are at lower risk from unnecessary treatments.' Prof Kristian Helin, chief executive of the ICR, said there was an 'urgent need for a better screening test' and this study was 'a promising advancement towards that goal'. Researchers have estimated that the spit test could identify up to 12,350 people earlier, saving the NHS about £500 million a year. Asked about a potential new programme on Tuesday, Mr Streeting said. 'Decisions in this area do need to be evidence-based and evidence-led, and that's why we have a National Screening Committee. So I've asked the National Screening Committee to look at this, and they are.' About 55,000 cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed each year in Britain, with 12,000 men dying. A separate trial has been launched that will compare the saliva tests to the PSA test and an MRI scan. Dr Matthew Hobbs, from Prostate Cancer UK, said that this next trial would 'test this genetic risk approach to make sure it worked at scale, and for men of all ethnicities'. Prostate Cancer UK has called for guidelines to be changed so GPs can have discussions about getting tested with men at highest risk of the disease. But other experts said that the ' evidence is not there yet ' to support a national screening programme. 'More research needed' Jenny Donovan, professor of social medicine at Bristol University, said: 'The key criterion for screening from the National Screening Committee is that the benefit gained by individuals from the screening programme should outweigh any harms. 'We think the evidence shows that we're not there yet, and more research is needed.' Freddie Hamdy, professor of urology at Oxford University, said the UK is 'not an outlier' by not having a screening programme – with only Lithuania and Mexico having schemes in place. Prof Hamdy also said that because prostate cancer 'grows so slowly', previous studies have taken 20 years to report back. Review the evidence A Department of Health spokesman said: 'The National Screening Committee is reviewing evidence for prostate cancer screening programmes. 'Alongside £16 million investment into research, this Government's National Cancer Plan will transform the way we treat cancer and improve diagnosis, screening, treatment and prevention. 'Through a combination of investment and reform as part of the Government's Plan for Change, we will fix our health service and make it fit for the future.'
