Cancer Research Technology announce collaboration with Hammersmith Hospital to develop high intensity focused ultrasound for the treatment of cancer

Jul 26 2006

Cancer Research Technology (CRT), the oncology-focused development and commercialisation company wholly owned by Cancer Research UK, today announce that they have entered into an agreement with Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust (London, UK) to develop Phased Array High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) for the treatment of cancer.

HIFU therapy utilises ultrasound energy to heat and destroy tumour tissue whilst leaving surrounding healthy tissue intact. Compared with other cancer treatments, HIFU application has the unique advantages of being non-invasive, capable of precise tumour targeting and is coupled with very few side effects. HIFU therapy is applicable for treatment of a range of cancers including pancreatic, bladder, prostate, kidney and primary and secondary liver cancer and for both curative and palliative therapy.

In general, current HIFU applications are limited by treatment times of several hours duration, which is impractical for routine therapy. Phased Array HIFU has the potential to target larger volumes of tissue than can be currently treated with most existing HIFU technologies. This should result in dramatically reduced treatment times, making HIFU clinically and economically viable.

Within the agreement, Cancer Research UK will fund both the development of a prototype Phased Array HIFU device and proof of concept studies to be carried out by Prof. Jeffrey Hand and Mr Paul Abel at Hammersmith Hospital. CRT will lead the commercialisation of this new technology in consultation with Hammersmith Hospital.

Phil L’Huillier, Director of Business Management at CRT said “It is particularly gratifying that this promising new therapy has the potential to reach the clinic and provide cancer patient benefit within a comparatively short period of time.”

Prof. Hand said “This is an exciting and timely opportunity to develop innovative technology that is expected to facilitate wider clinical use of HIFU.”

Paul Abel said “The extraordinary potential of HIFU is under appreciated. This collaboration underpins the kind of research and development which will increase awareness and accelerate delivery of HIFU as meaningful therapy to many patients with serious illness.”

http://www.cancertechnology.com and http://www.cancerresearchuk.org