The University of Missouri School of Medicine has received a $1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to access technology to research and develop a quicker dose of radiation to attack cancer tumors.
With this grant, the school will be able to study the TheryQ FLASHKNiFE system, which will help continue with the study of cancer research. Preclinical studies show this system can deliver quicker doses of radiation to tumors while attempting to reduce damage to nearby tissue, according to a news release from the School of Medicine.
“So FLASH just has this new effect that hasn’t been really discovered or explored before and has been discovered recently,” said Rongxiao Zhang, associate professor of radiation oncology. “If you deliver the radiation dose much faster, it actually spares normal tissue,” but how it controls the tumor still remains unclear.
Zhang added that any radiation can possibly can cause harm.
“People have to constantly work, you know, balance the sort of side effects caused by the radiation versus, trading on what kills the cancer tissue,” he said. “ It’s a battle of how to keep the balance and how to keep the side effects tolerable.”
“The (equipment) purchase time frame would be in the next three to six months and the grant will allow up to a year for the fully commissioning and the installation of the system,” Zhang said.
FDA clearance will be needed prior to use for the general public.
“Maybe in the next five years, we’re targeting FDA clearance in the U.S. market,” Zhang said. “And after that, it can be safely applied for patient treatment.”
“However (the FDA) does support some clinical trials, it could be sooner, you know, because clinical trials only require investigational device exemption,” he said.
Zhang said clinical trials could possibly start in three to four years.
