The other shoe dropped in a good way for backers of Actinium Pharmaceuticals Inc. as the firm popped the lid off full data from the phase III study called Sierra testing Iomab-B in patients age 55 and older with active relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (r/r AML). Antibody radiation conjugate (ARC) Iomab-B met the primary endpoint of durable complete remission of six months following initial complete remission after bone-marrow transplant with a high degree of statistical significance.
Reflexion Medical Inc. has been granted U.S. FDA marketing clearance for biology-guided radiotherapy to treat early and late-stage cancers. An expansion of the company’s existing X1 platform, Scintix is indicated for patients with lung and bone tumors which may arise from primary cancers or from metastatic lesions spread from other cancers in the body.
Varian’s Halcyon and Ethos radiotherapy systems received two regulatory nods in short succession, with both U.S. FDA 510(k) clearance and CE marking. In addition, the company reported that the first patient in the world underwent treatment with a Halcyon system with Hypersight last week.
Perception Vision Medical Technologies Co. Ltd. (Pvmed) raised around $14 million in a series A financing round, to further develop artificial intelligence (AI) cancer treatment solutions for the two major tumor treatment methods, radiotherapy, and surgery.
Vaudois University Hospital (CHUV), in conjunction with the European laboratory for particle physics (CERN) and Theryq SAS, has signed an agreement to develop equipment for a novel radiotherapy technique known as “electron Flash therapy.” The new device will use very high energy electron (VHEE) radiation to treat cancers resistant to conventional therapy.
Thales SA signed a major partnership with the Curie Institute to use very high-intensity electron FLASH radiotherapy (FLASH-RT) in cancer therapy. Based on its experience in the field of particle accelerators, “we have all the manufacturing facilities and human know-how necessary to ramp research and development for this new technology,” Charles-Antoine Goffin, vice president, microwave & imaging subsystems at Thales, told BioWorld.
Nanobiotix SA has just presented new data from an open-label preclinical study evaluating the action of its nanoparticle-enhanced radiotherapy, NBTXR3, with the triple blockade of PD-1, LAG-3, and TIGIT on mice carrying cancerous cells. PD-1, LAG-3 and TIGIT are three checkpoint inhibitors which regulate the natural killer cells usually targeted in combination therapy in immuno-oncology.
Elekta AB signed a commercial agreement with GE Healthcare Co. Ltd. to expand hospital access to radiotherapy. Marlborough, Mass.-based GE Healthcare said it will combine its precision imaging solutions with Elekta’s radiation therapy portfolio to provide hospitals worldwide with a more comprehensive oncology offering.
A brighter future awaits radiotherapy if Flash and LIGHT live up to their promise. Announcements made last week by Varian Medical Systems and Advanced Oncotherapy plc indicate results should be seen soon. Varian reported that the first human clinical trial of Flash, Fast-01, completed its treatment phase last week at the Cincinnati Children’s/University of Cincinnati Health Proton Therapy Center. Advanced Oncotherapy plc presented results from a modeling study of Linac for Image Guided Hadron Therapy (LIGHT) technology at the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) 2021 Annual Meeting demonstrating that LIGHT enables both the high, super-quick dose delivery of Flash and good conformality of dose delivery to tumor tissue.
Local tumor conversion of a prodrug to an active agent using clinically relevant radiotherapy may herald a new era in targeted and directed cancer chemotherapy.