World first as life-saving cancer drugs to be mixed at patients' bedsides

The UK has become the first country to allow hospitals to produce personalized cancer drugs at patients’ bedsides, following new regulations by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). These laws enable on-site manufacturing of bespoke treatments, slashing production times from months to days and improving outcomes for critically ill patients.

Previously, strict rules required specialized facilities, often distant, to modify patients’ cells for therapies like CAR-T, which reprograms immune cells to target cancer. Delays in transport could render drugs ineffective or patients too sick for treatment. “Some patients have become too unwell to receive their treatment in time.