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Neutron Therapeutics LLC, a leading provider of boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) systems, and the Helsinki University Hospital announce that they have treated the first cancer patients in a European hospital with accelerator-based boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT). This milestone marks the culmination of a multi-year collaborative effort and represents the first clinical application of accelerator-based BNCT in the Western hemisphere.
Approved in Japan but not currently available to patients outside of Asia, BNCT is a tumour-targeted radiation therapy in which epithermal neutrons activate a boron-bearing compound that is selectively taken up by tumours. The boron-neutron reaction generates high-energy alpha particles within tumour cells, destroying them while sparing healthy tissues. In contrast to treatments like traditional radiation or chemotherapy, BNCT is administered in just one or two sessions and has the potential to deliver highly effective radiation therapy at the cellular level while causing minimal disruption to patient quality of life.
The patients treated are the first in a ten-patient study aimed at demonstrating the safety of BNCT for locally recurrent head and neck cancer using Neutron Therapeutics’ nuBeam device, a compact accelerator-based, high-throughput neutron source used in combination with a locally compounded boron-carrying drug. The Comprehensive Cancer Center at Helsinki University Hospital has served as a hub for BNCT research and clinical trials since 1992 and is the first European facility to house a nuBeam Suite.
Neutron Therapeutics’ nuBeam Suite includes the complete array of tools required to administer BNCT: a neutron source, patient positioning & imaging capabilities, treatment control software, and treatment planning software. Clinical verification and testing for the nuBeam Suite is ongoing and the company intends to submit for a CE mark when complete. Neutron Therapeutics is also in discussions with academic medical centres in the United States to bring this innovative cancer therapy to American patients.
“Neutron Therapeutics is proud to help bring BNCT to the Western world, where no one has received this promising treatment for many years due to the decommissioning of reactor-based BNCT facilities,” said Bill Buckley, co-founder of Neutron Therapeutics. “We look to a future where BNCT may be an alternative for patients whose disease does not respond to conventional forms of treatment. We are grateful to partner with the clinical team at Helsinki University Hospital, who bring decades of clinical experience to this endeavour.”
“We are excited to take this first clinical step towards making BNCT available to the people of Finland and ultimately Europe and beyond,” said Johanna Mattson, director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Helsinki University Hospital. “This clinical trial addresses an area of significant unmet need. Our hospital’s experience with BNCT makes us well positioned to carry out this study and the subsequent trials that we hope will bring this therapy to many more patients with different types of solid tumours.”
Helsinki University Hospital is a pioneer in the clinical use of BNCT. Using a research nuclear reactor as the neutron source, the hospital has applied BNCT to over 200 cancer patients.
Neutron Therapeutics is a leading provider of boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) systems for use in the radiation treatment of cancer patients.
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