Call for backer to chip in and beat cancer

A PARTNER is being sought for a revolutionary Irish cancer treatment technique which has produced staggering results in the early stages of research.

Patients who have been treated with microchip technology developed at the Cork Cancer Research Centre experienced remarkable improvements in tumours which failed to respond to every other form of therapy.

The researchers pulled together various methods of treatment on the end of a tiny chip designed to reach right into the heart of tumours.

Cancer research manager at the Irish Cancer Society, Pat Corley, said this cutting- edge treatment had exciting potential.

However, he said the project needs a commercial backer to bring it to the healthcare marketplace.

“The expertise at the Cork Cancer Research Centre has been built up over many years and is really at the cutting edge of this type of work. But to bring this project to its full potential you need the expertise of a company who can work at product development and bring it further.

“It would be great if there was a company or a small enterprise that would be able to take this on.”

Director of the Cork research centre and consultant surgeon at Cork’s Mercy Hospital, Professor Gerald O’Sullivan, said the results were very encouraging in the initial stages.

“In the last 24 months, over 40 patients have been treated using this novel technique. Over 85% of the patients treated have reacted positively and we have witnessed tumour shrinkage by up to 50% in 32 of the patients.”

The technology is made to fit on an endoscope and attack the tumours directly.

It sends micro-electric pulses and ultrasound waves through the tumour while a chemotherapy drug called Bleomycin is administered.

This has proven to dramatically improve the amount of drug the tumour absorbs and reduces the percentage of medicine getting flushed out of the system.

At this stage of research, it has only been tested on patients whose tumours had not responded to drug treatment or chemotherapy.

These patients were terminal and the new method was used to ease their pain. However, Mr Corley said, there were exciting pros-pects if it is developed.

“The treatment is still at a very experimental stage. It is only available as part of controlled clinical trial and is only used for palliative treatment in specific cancers.

“There are still many unknowns about its long-term future. But this is very exciting. Anything that helps at any stage in the treatment of tumours is welcome and it will be great to see where it can be taken.”

The research centre is also experimenting by using the technology to inject genes into tumours to kill them from the inside. The Irish Cancer Society is hopeful a company will emerge to explore the commercial potential of the technology.

It expects it will not be able to patent the techniques involved but is exploring the possibility of patenting its unique design, which is small enough to sit on the tip of an endoscope.