MagForce Nanotechnologies AG, the Berlin-based medical technology company majority owned by Nanostart AG, today announced the successful completion of final trials demonstrating the efficacy of its Nano-Cancer® therapy in patients with recurrent glioblastoma, a frequent form of brain tumor which is highly malignant. The actual study results significantly exceeded the study objective.
According to a previous study among a large patient population, the median survival time following diagnosis of a glioblastoma recurrence and treatment with conventional therapy (surgery, chemotherapy and radiation) is 6.2 months. The primary objective for the Nano-Cancer® therapy study was to demonstrate an extension of the median survival time in the recruited patient group by three months compared to this historical control group.
In fact, the median survival time of the 59 patients participating in these trials was 13.4 months following treatment with Nano-Cancer® therapy in conjunction with radiation. The median survival time was thus significantly greater, more than double that of the control population.
The results were even more remarkable in that Nano-Cancer® therapy was tested not on newly diagnosed patients with primary tumors but rather as a study involving patients who had already endured treatment with conventional therapies, as well as the unpleasant effects generally associated with these. Following regulatory approval of the new therapy, it is expected that it will also be available for use in treating other types of localized tumors, as these are generally responsive to the same principle of using warmth to destroy or degrade cancer cells.
MagForce founder and chief scientific officer Dr. Andreas Jordan commented, “The results demonstrate the potential of Nano-Cancer® therapy, which at the same time has minimal patient side effects. Our vision is to establish this new technology alongside surgery, chemotherapy and radiation as an additional pillar of cancer therapy.”
Marco Beckmann, CEO of Nanostart AG, went on to add, “We enthusiastically congratulate Dr. Jordan and his team on the superb study results. It is my belief that we may thank nanotechnology for a historical advance in medical science.”