Britain’s National Health Service will be the first in the world to offer an under-the-skin injection to cancer patients which can be administered in a mere 7 minutes. This will reduce the treatment time for cancer patients by as much as 75% compared to the present cumbersome intravenous route.

NHS England announced on Tuesday that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has given its approval for the injection.

NHS National Director for Cancer Professor Peter Johnson said: “The world-first introduction of this treatment will mean that hundreds of patients can spend less time at the hospital and will free up valuable time in NHS chemotherapy units.

But now and within weeks, hundreds of eligible patients being treated with atezolizumab are set to have their experience improved by switching to the swifter and more comfortable under the skin (or subcutaneous) injection — freeing up valuable time for NHS cancer teams.

Atezolizumab is an immunotherapy drug that empowers a patient’s own immune system to seek and destroy cancerous cells. The treatment is currently offered by transfusion to NHS patients with a range of cancers, including lung, breast, liver and bladder.

It is anticipated the majority of the approximately 3,600 patients starting treatment of atezolizumab annually in England will switch onto the time-saving injection. However, where patients are receiving intravenous chemotherapy in combination with atezolizumab, they may remain on the transfusion, according to an NHS England statement.