Cancer Research Technology (CRT), the oncology-focused development and commercialisation company wholly owned by Cancer Research UK, today announce that they have entered into an agreement with Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust (London, UK) to develop Phased Array High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) for the treatment of cancer.
HIFU therapy utilises ultrasound energy to heat and destroy tumour tissue whilst leaving surrounding healthy tissue intact. Compared with other cancer treatments, HIFU application has the unique advantages of being non-invasive, capable of precise tumour targeting and is coupled with very few side effects. HIFU therapy is applicable for treatment of a range of cancers including pancreatic, bladder, prostate, kidney and primary and secondary liver cancer and for both curative and palliative therapy.
In general, current HIFU applications are limited by treatment times of several hours duration, which is impractical for routine therapy. Phased Array HIFU has the potential to target larger volumes of tissue than can be currently treated with most existing HIFU technologies. This should result in dramatically reduced treatment times, making HIFU clinically and economically viable.
Within the agreement, Cancer Research UK will fund both the development of a prototype Phased Array HIFU device and proof of concept studies to be carried out by Prof. Jeffrey Hand and Mr Paul Abel at Hammersmith Hospital. CRT will lead the commercialisation of this new technology in consultation with Hammersmith Hospital.