Pancreatic cancer, first operation in the world with radioactive glue

New perspectives in the treatment of locally advanced and inoperable pancreatic cancer. At the Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome, the first operation in the world was performed with an innovative radioactive biological glue (YntraDose*) developed by the Italian biotech company BetaGlue Therapeutics, owned by the Tech and Biomedical Foundation.

The procedure, carried out by Roberto Iezzi, director of interventional radiology at Fondazione Policlinico Gemelli, as part of an international trial - whose principal investigator is Giampaolo Tortora, director of the complex operational unit (Uoc) of medical oncology - involved a 63-year-old woman with locally advanced, inoperable ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. The objective was to create the conditions for subsequent operability.

"Seeing the BetaGlue technology reach its first clinical application in the world represents a fundamental moment and confirmation of the concrete value of the project", said Cinzia Marchese, president of the Tech and Biomedical Foundation. "This - he added - is the role we want to have: to contribute to creating the conditions so that a technology born in Italy can move from the project to the clinical trial, right up to the patient's bedside. The BetaGlue case demonstrates how strategic it is to build an ecosystem capable of accompanying biomedical research along this entire path". The trial, which involves centers in Italy, Belgium and Great Britain, continues with the enrollment of patients. The next treatments are scheduled for October.