News digest – SABR, ‘chemo buses’, junk food marketing and 3D printed pills

With news about the coronavirus pandemic developing daily, we want to make sure everyone affected by cancer gets the information they need during this time. 

We’re pulling together the latest government and NHS health updates from across the UK in a separate blog post, which we’re updating regularly. 

Innovative radiotherapy treatment rolled out in England  

Sky News reports on an innovative type of radiotherapy being rolled out to all cancer centres across England in the next year. Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) treatment is a more precise form of radiotherapy that uses higher doses to offer patients a faster treatment period with fewer hospital visits. NHS England has also announced it will be ramping up the use of ‘chemo buses’ in London and Yorkshire to help deal with the backlog of people waiting for treatment due to COVID-19. The Telegraph has more.  

Scientists developing 3D printed ‘magnetic’ pills to help drug delivery 

Researchers in the UK and US are developing 3D printed magnetic pills that could provide a new way to target treatments to cancer cells. The technology could enable treatment to be delivered directly into the required area of the body, by using external magnets to trigger the release of cancer drugs. Read more on this at The Engineer.  

And finally… 

A new bill to restrict the promotion of junk food in Scotland has been temporarily paused by Scottish Government. As a direct result of our Scale Down Cancer campaign, the Scottish Government had committed to introduce legislation that would restrict how brands and stores could promote junk food products, including measures to ban multi-buy offers on foods high fat, salt and sugar, as well as their promotion at checkouts. The Scottish Government has now said that it will pause to consider if a more wide-ranging plan is needed in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Find the full story at BBC News.

Scarlett Sangster is a writer for PA Media Group