BTG (LON:BTG) said today that the 1st batch of patients in the European Union were treated with its DC Bead Lumi radiopaque drug-eluting bead. Two patients were treated for hepatocellular carcinoma and 1 patient was treated for malignant colorectal cancer metastasized to the liver.
The bead, which is the 1st commercially available radiopaque drug-eluting bead in the EU, uses doxorubicin or irinotecan to locally treat tumors.
The company’s DC Bead Lumi also features real-time visible confirmation of the bead’s location, which the company claims will enhance control in transarterial chemoembolisation procedures.
The bead can be seen during and after embolisation, which enables doctors to individualize a patient’s treatment and evaluate the completeness of tumor treatment, according to BTG.
“We are very pleased with the results from treatment in our patients, and DC Bead Lumi offered clear, real-time evidence on the treatment of the target lesion while the long-term radiopacity means not only can we see where we are delivering the treatment during the procedure, but we can also identify areas of successful treatment – or under treatment – in follow up scans.” Dr. Camillo Aliberti, from the Instituto Oncologico Veneto, said in prepared remarks.
“DC Bead Lumi provides the opportunity to individualize a patient’s treatment and bring a new level of control to [transarterial chemoembolisation] procedures. At the same time, the lasting radiopacity allows you to see rather than assume the location of the beads, providing reassurance to patients that the treatment is getting to where it needs to be.” commented Duncan Kennedy, BTG Head of Interventional Oncology. “DC Bead Lumi is the latest step of BTG Interventional Oncology’s strategy to discover and develop differentiated therapeutic innovations. The feedback from the treatment of the 1st patients indicates that DC Bead Lumi is an important advance in personalized, loco-regional cancer therapies. We’re proud to offer an innovative new treatment option for patients and clinicians and look forward to providing DC Bead Lumi to more clinicians across the EU.”
The drug-eluting bead won CE Mark clearance in March.
