A new European taskforce aimed at revolutionising cancer care through ‘theranostics’ – combining imaging diagnostics with targeted therapeutics – has been launched.
GE HealthCare is leading the €25.3m project which brings together 29 European partners; representing academic and clinical sites, SMEs and patient advocacy groups.
Thera4Care is aimed at revolutionising the use of theranostics to broaden patient access in Europe. Its partners “share a common goal to advance connected, personalised and compassionate cancer care” through the emerging approach.
Theranostics is used to treat a number of late-stage prostate and neuroendocrine cancers, but it is only available in a handful of specialised centres globally.
The new initiative argues that there is critical incremental clinical need to develop new, innovative radiotheranostics to expand clinical indications of theranostics as well as to expand its use to community centres for broader patient access.
Thera4Care aims to expand the use of theranostics in Europe by creating standardised, scalable methods for the production, detection, and monitoring of key theranostic isotopes.
Its focus is on the whole process, from the manufacturing and early delivery of diagnostics to therapy.
It will use radiology-based diagnostics and therapies and focus on disease areas of prostate, ovarian, pancreas cancers and sarcomas.
Cancer remains the leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for nearly ten million deaths in 2022.
By 2050, the global burden is expected to grow to 35 million new cancer cases, which is due, in part, to population growth and aging.
Theranostics uses molecular imaging technologies to visualise tumour receptors and, if present, deliver a radioactive drug to selectively target the tumour cells.
Dr. Ben Newton, GE HealthCare’s general manager for oncology solutions, said: “Our collective efforts are designed to improve healthcare system readiness for this rapidly growing field of precision medicine.”
The €25.3m funding for the project comes via the Horizon Europe framework, and part of the Innovative Health Initiative (IHI), a public-private partnership between the European Union and the European life science industries.
It will support the development next-generation SPECT-CT imaging scanners and AI-enabled imaging and multi-modal theranostic clinical decision support systems. It also aims to enhance AI-based tumour quantitation.
It brings together partners from 14 European countries and the US. Academic partners include Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore & Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS (Italy), Erasmus University (Netherlands), Jules Bordet Institute (Belgium), UniKlinik Essen (Germany), Gregorio Maranon General University Hospital (Spain) and Institut de Cancérologie de l’Ouest (France).
