RCL To Start Clinical Hyperthermia Study

Barcelona, February 25th 2021

Nanomedicine has emerged as a potential therapy for pancreatic cancer, a disease with a 5-year survival rate as low as 5%. The international project NoCanTher was launched in 2016 to test the use of magnetic nanoparticles in treating locally advanced pancreatic cancer. NoCanTher enters its final phase with the start-up of a clinical study led by the  Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO). 

This project is aimed at patients with unresectable, locally advanced pancreatic cancer that has not metastasized, who have palliative chemotherapy as the only therapeutic alternative. Novel approaches are therefore required to increase the efficacy of chemotherapy. This population accounts for 20% of patients with pancreatic cancer. 

The local heat induced by nanoparticles increases the efficacy of chemotherapy.

Our approach based on magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (RCL-01) makes it possible to apply heat solely in the region where these nanoparticles are present, in this case, the pancreatic tumor. By this technique, chemotherapy does not damage the healthy tissue surrounding the tumor. Hyperthermia transforms electromagnetic energy into heat, which, combined with standard chemotherapy, destroys tumor cells and controls the local growth of the tumor. A magnetic field generator (RCL NTT Generator) specifically designed and built to generate thermal energy inside the tumour will be used in this study.

This initiative is funded under the Horizon 2020 programme (GA: 685795).

For more information about the project, please visit:

Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology
www.nocanther-project.eu

Press release can be downloaded here.