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This is one of the most significant advances in cervical cancer care in recent years and creates hope for patients diagnosed with locally advanced forms of the disease.

The treatment, pembrolizumab, has been approved for use alongside standard chemoradiotherapy for women with stage 3 or stage 4 locally advanced cervical cancer. This type of cancer has spread beyond the cervix into nearby tissues, such as the pelvic wall, but has not yet spread to distant parts of the body.

Health officials estimate that around 550 women in England could become eligible for the treatment over the next two years.

Clinical trial results have shown that combining pembrolizumab with chemoradiotherapy can significantly improve outcomes for patients.

Two years after beginning treatment, 68% of patients receiving the combination therapy were still living without their cancer progressing, compared with 57% of those receiving chemoradiotherapy alone.

The benefits also extended to overall survival. Three years after treatment, 82.6% of patients who received pembrolizumab alongside standard treatment were still alive, compared with 74.8% of patients treated with chemoradiotherapy alone.

The findings suggest that the addition of immunotherapy could help more women remain cancer-free for longer and improve long-term survival rates.

Pembrolizumab is a type of immunotherapy designed to help the body’s immune system recognise and attack cancer cells more effectively.

The drug works by blocking a protein known as PD-1, which can prevent immune cells from targeting cancer. By removing this barrier, the treatment enables the immune system to identify and destroy cancer cells more efficiently.

Patients can receive the drug either through an intravenous infusion every three or six weeks or through a recently introduced injectable version that can be administered in around one minute.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) approved the treatment following a commercial agreement between NHS England and pharmaceutical company MSD, which manufactures pembrolizumab.

Eligible patients will be able to access pembrolizumab immediately through the NHS Cancer Drugs Fund, ensuring that women can benefit from the therapy without delay.

The approval follows successful results from the international KEYNOTE-A18 clinical trial, which included participation from NHS centres such as The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and the Royal Devon and Exeter Foundation Trust Hospital.

The introduction of pembrolizumab is the latest in a series of advances in cervical cancer treatment and prevention.

Recent developments have included the availability of the immunotherapy drug cemiplimab for recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer after chemotherapy. At the same time, ongoing research continues to highlight the effectiveness of the HPV vaccination programme, with studies showing that girls vaccinated at ages 12 and 13 have an extremely low risk of dying from cervical cancer before the age of 30.

Cervical cancer remains the 14th most common cancer among women in the UK, with around 3,300 new cases diagnosed each year. The availability of pembrolizumab is a step forward in improving treatment options and outcomes for women facing one of the disease’s most challenging forms.