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A new cancer treatment implant that slowly delivers drugs directly into cancerous tumors has had its first clinical trial in New Zealand and is touted as a major advance in the treatment of prostate cancer.
Initially developed to treat breast cancer, the “Biolen” device has been adapted to treat prostate cancer by delivering slow-release drugs directly to affected prostates, which should reduce side effects.
If successful, the device could prevent surgery for some prostate cancer patients.
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Dr. Pamela Munster has developed a new type of prostate cancer treatment with the first global clinical trial to be conducted in Tauranga.
The technology has been produced by Pamela Munster, who has been testing cancer-fighting drugs for 20 years.
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After seeing the side effects of some medications, he began to think of better ways to administer the medications and better treat cancer patients.
This led her to found the US-based company AlessaTherapetuics and to develop her potentially revolutionary device.
“I wanted to find a way to minimize the effects throughout the body by releasing drugs only to the affected area,” he said.
Munster said the procedure was first developed to treat breast cancer and research will continue on how the device can be used in this way.
“The use of technological development or breast cancer treatment continues,” she said.
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A cross section of the Biolen implant inserted into an affected prostate
Dr. Mark Fraundorfer from Tauranga has become the first to treat a patient using the new technology as part of his clinical trial.
“I am honored to be the first in the world to enroll a patient in this study,” said Fraundorfer.
“Introducing the device that selectively delivers bicalutamide to the prostate of my patient with a large tumor was a very straightforward procedure.”
Professor Peter Gilling, director of the clinical campus for the Bay of Plenty District Board of Health, is chair of the Safety and Data Monitoring Committee for the global clinical study and said the technique could be a major advance.
“It is a very promising technology and also a proof of concept for the technique of delivering these drugs directly to the tumor,” Gilling said.
“We use MRIs to diagnose prostate cancers in our patients. Once identified, using this technology we can administer drugs directly, in the form of slow-release granules. It should open up a whole new way of treating prostate cancer and potentially other cancers. “
New Zealand’s prostate cancer rate is 103 cases per 100,000 men, resulting in more than 3,700 cases annually.
Both surgery and radiation treatment can have complications including urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction.
The findings from the surgery and clinical trials will be used to support submissions for phase two clinical trials.
The world’s first surgery took place on October 8.
Munster said she was pleased and excited to learn that the device she developed in an attempt to help cancer patients is one step closer to completion.
“It’s an incredible feeling to know that something that started as an idea in a laboratory is now inside a patient,” he said.
