In patients who receive chemotherapy after surgery it has been estimated that only around 5% of the administered drug reaches cancer cells. This is thought to be even lower for hard-to-treat cancers like pancreatic cancer, with the rest of the treatment accumulating elsewhere in body, causing side effects like sickness, infections, tiredness, bleeding, and hair loss.2
Dr McConville, who is an expert in drug delivery, has already developed a prototype device that could be attached to the pancreas during surgery, and used to administer chemotherapy directly to the tissue, specifically targeting any rogue cancer cells that remain after surgery. His work at Birmingham resulted in a patent application, filed by University of Birmingham Enterprise, for the device he is now developing.
Dr McConville said: “We have good drugs, we just choose to give them to patients in an inefficient way by injecting them into the blood stream or swallowing them as a tablet. When we test cancer drugs on cells in the lab or in mice they show a lot of promise, however, this is rarely replicated in patients due to not enough drug getting to the cancerous tissue to work, plus we are limited in how much we can give due to their side effects. This is particularly true for hard-to-treat cancers. Using an approach like ChemoPatch will allow us to deliver small, but effective, doses of the drugs directly to the cancerous tissue, improving their clinical performance by increasing efficacy while reducing toxicity”
The award will fund the research group to build on the prototype and design an implantable device that is suitable for patients, taking into consideration size, flexibility, and shape. The chemotherapy would be loaded into the device via a hollow silicone tube and then released slowly into the body over a period of seven days.
The researchers will also determine how best to attach the device to ensure it is secure, experimenting with stitching and surgical glue. If the project is a success, researchers plan to take the device forward for further testing in clinical trials.
Dr Chris MacDonald, Head of Research at Pancreatic Cancer UK said: “We desperately need more treatment options for pancreatic cancer. Surgery is currently the only potentially curative treatment, however tragically in 75% of cases the cancer reoccurs within a year. It’s vital we stop this from happening. This innovative new technique offers the opportunity to much more quickly deliver a high dose of post-operative chemotherapy to the right place, whilst also minimising side-effects. If successful, this research could have a really positive impact for patients and, crucially, help improve survival for the deadliest common cancer.”
