Seeds of a Cure

Richland-based IsoRay Medical has developed new products that increase the ease and effectiveness of internal radiation therapy (also known as brachytherapy) in treating various cancers, particularly prostate cancer, while reducing physical and psychological suffering of patients.

In brachytherapy, tiny seeds treated with radioactive isotopes are placed near the tumor to target cancer cells from the inside out. IsoRay dramatically improved that treatment by finding a way to use Cesium-131 as the source of radiation. In the case of prostate cancer, Cesium-131 delivers radiation uniformly across the gland and avoids damaging the urethra and the rectum, which means fewer side effects than with other radioactive materials.

Equally significant, it has a short half-life: Cesium-131 releases half its radiation in only 9.7 days as opposed to 17 days or more for alternative isotopes. Therapies using the product have had just a 2 percent failure rate in the treatment of 6,000 prostate cancer patientscompared to other alternatives that result in a 7 to 12 percent failure rate. Failure is when cancer or indications of cancer return.

Cesium-131 can be applied in a non-invasive manner for the prostate, allowing a patient to complete treatment in an hour or less. With alternative, high-dose radiation therapies, patients must stay close to the hospital where the treatment is being administered, which, IsoRay CEO Dwight Babcock says, can sometimes be tough on a patient financially and logistically. He says, were trying to improve lifestyle and enhance the ability to get care when, perhaps, a high-dose radiation facility is not available nearby.

Cesium-131 is currently being used in more than 100 centers throughout the United States to treat prostate, lung, head and neck, ocular and colon cancers. Babcock wants to build on that.

The key is to get physicians aware of the power of our isotope, he says. The ubiquity of prostate cancer keeps physicians busy, he adds, but what were really trying to push are the other areas, that were a very viable alternative for failed primary courses of treatment.

The company is now developing a product for use with breast cancer patients that Babcock says should be available for public use by the end of 2011.

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