The problem with traditional cancer treatments like chemotherapy and radiotherapy is that they typically lack precision, attacking healthy tissue as well as cancerous cells, and leave some patients with terrible side effects.
But it doesn鈥檛 have to be this way.
, deputy director of research at the and the at 快播色情片, is pioneering advanced radiopharmaceuticals that could arm oncologists with new patient-specific treatments that target cancer cells alone.
鈥淜nowing the enemy is crucial,鈥� Professor Thurecht says.
鈥淯nderstanding tumour tissue and what makes it unique allows our team to bioengineer molecules with a high affinity for these tissues. By doing that, we can load those molecules up with potent radioisotopes that can more specifically hit the cancer cells with minimal effect on healthy tissues.鈥�
Known as theranostics, these radiopharmaceuticals are effective for both diagnosing and treating cancers, allowing clinicians to select the best-suited radiotherapeutic treatment for each patient.
鈥淭his is a great example of how medicines can be personalised, taking out the indiscriminate nature of conventional drugs,鈥� Professor Thurecht says.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e screening a patient with a diagnostic probe, identifying whether that patient is responsive or that they express a particular protein in an area that you鈥檙e interested in, and then you鈥檙e developing a therapeutic radiopharmaceutical based on that protein target.
鈥淔ollowing this process, there is an extremely good chance that the patient is going to be receptive to the drug.
鈥淚f it works in that patient, you can then treat them with the therapeutic radioisotope 鈥� it鈥檚 the same molecule but you鈥檙e just swapping out a diagnostic isotope for a therapeutic isotope.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 really clever and it saves patients from being treated with something that would typically be minimally effective and have unacceptable side effects.鈥�
Theranostics present new treatment pathways for patients, offering an alternative to surgery and tackling refractory cancers that have resisted previous rounds of surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy.
Professor Thurecht says there is now a global push to develop theranostics as first-line cancer treatments.
That could soon become a reality with the opening of the Australian Research Council (ARC) hub for .
Created through a $5 million ARC grant and more than $10 million in industry and partner contributions, AMTAR is a one-stop-shop that connects biotech firms with the expertise and high-end infrastructure and equipment to design, test and deliver groundbreaking precision cancer treatments.
鈥淭he immediate goal is to create an ecosystem of innovation, presenting industry partners with opportunities to step in and take our findings into a commercial setting and shortening the journey between discovery and translation,鈥� Professor Thurecht says
鈥淯ltimately, it鈥檚 about revolutionising the process for translating new cancer medicines and making it available to everyone.鈥�
AMTAR is a collaboration between 快播色情片, the University of Sydney and multinational radiopharmaceutical industry partners including Telix Pharmaceuticals, AdvanCell, Starpharma, Clarity Pharmaceuticals, Cyclowest and GlyTherix, with new collaborations forming with other major companies such as Novartis.
Telix is a聽commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialisation of theranostic radiopharmaceuticals.
Telix chief scientist Michael Wheatcroft, says it is an exciting partnership.
鈥淎MTAR will accelerate the development and commercialisation of novel radiopharmaceuticals in Australia, and the team of high-quality industry, academic and research partners will enable the translational science required to bring these innovative new technologies to patients,鈥� he says.
The hub will also feature contributions from the University of Nottingham, and the University of Tokyo, as well as the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in the US.
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