Source: MelanomaFocus, May 2025
The NHS is rolling out a new formulation of nivolumab as a subcutaneous injection, which is an injection given just under the skin. This means patients who are receiving immunotherapy treatment with nivolumab can receive their treatment in 5 minutes instead of 30 minutes to an hour by an intravenous (IV) drip, into a vein in the arm.
This new formulation of nivolumab was approved on 30 April 2025 by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).The under-the-skin nivolumab injection will save treatment time for patients and NHS teams every year, which means that patients will spend less time in the hospital and NHS staff will have the availability to book appointments and treatments for more people every month.
In clinical trials, patients were very happy with the under-the-skin injection, which takes 3-5 minutes to give every 4 weeks, and they generally preferred it to the intravenous drip of nivolumab which takes 30 to 60 minutes. The new injection was also shown to be as effective and with similar side effects to intravenous nivolumab.