Aleksandra Wilk, director of the Lung Cancer Section of the "It Cures Itself" Foundation, talks about how the subcutaneous form of drug administration affects patients' lives.
Aleksandra Wilk: This is a revolution
Published June 23, 2025 16:53
Since the beginning of this year, lung cancer patients have had the opportunity to be treated with the subcutaneous form of one of the immunotherapies for the first time. How has the form of administration of the drug changed patients' daily lives, affected their hospital stay, their well-being?
It has a huge impact. Our patients have encountered this form of administration before in clinical trials, and it definitely affects the patient's comfort first and foremost. Please note that patients sometimes commute halfway across Poland or even the entire country to have the opportunity to administer a given drug. The subcutaneous form definitely shortens this time. Normal administration of immunotherapy is about 50 minutes to 1.5 hours. Such administration is 7 minutes. This is simply something amazing. Patients have to be in the unit from the very morning, have the drugs prepared, and here we just shorten it to the maximum, so it definitely translates into comfort and quality of life for the patient.
But it also probably translates into treatment organization, right? Then health care workers, medics have more time for treatment time for other patients.
Exactly yes, we can then handle a much larger number of patients, more patients can receive treatment, but also the time of that patient who is in the health unit is definitely reduced. Then it is about 1-1.5 hours, not really a whole day.
We have been discussing the organization of oncology treatment in outpatient specialty care for years now because of such direct benefits to hospitals and the health system. And so, to summarize, what importance does the form of drug administration really have for oncology patients?
Very much so, because we also have elderly patients or people who are taking immunotherapy for a very long time, that is, they are in such a chronic disease of many years, where unfortunately the condition of their veins also deteriorates. And this is a brilliant solution for these people when they can get the subcutaneous form. So in my opinion, this is a revolution. A revolution for patients who get the option of a quick less invasive therapy, but also one that definitely improves their quality of life and their organization. This translates into their better well-being, especially since this administration, from what we observe among our patients, has far fewer side effects.
