Shining an “atomic light” on cancer

Getting the right medicine to the right patient at the right time – it’s the goal of precision medicine, an approach that takes into account the fact that every patient is different. When it comes to cancer, precision medicine is particularly important. Why? Because cancer is incredibly complex and, in many ways, as unique as the individual who happens to possess the condition.

So how do we improve our odds of knowing whether a medicine may be right for a patient? One potential strategy may be to shine a light on cancer – with atomic energy.

See it, treat it

We’re excited here at Novartis about radioligand therapy – an approach for delivering radiation particles to cancers. It has two primary components. First, there’s a special molecule designed to seek out target proteins that some cancers express in high amounts. Attached to the molecule is a therapeutic radioisotope – an atom that emits a specific form of energy.

When given to a patient systemically, these molecules are designed to circulate throughout the body, attaching to cells that express the target protein, including cancer cells. If the molecules successfully converge onto a tumor, the combined radiation can potentially damage it, with a goal of limiting damage to healthy cells.

But that’s not the only reason we’re excited. Radioligand therapy is a technology platform – a foundational tool that can be tailored for different needs.

Atomic light bulb

Its core components, the special targeting molecule and the radioisotope, can be mixed and matched like toy building blocks. Instead of a therapeutic radioisotope, we can use an imaging radioisotope – one that acts like a light bulb to reveal cancer cells wherever they are in the body.

If a patient’s tumor shows positive uptake of the imaging radioisotope, this imaging approach, called radioligand imaging, can potentially help doctors visually determine which patients are most likely to benefit from radioligand treatment before they receive it.

At Novartis, we’ve already developed radioligand therapies for certain types of cancers. We’re working on exploring more special targeting molecules and different radioisotopes, which can be mixed and matched to hopefully bring this approach to more types of cancer and more patients. In this emerging area of medicine, possibilities for combinations with other methods of treating cancer also remain to be explored.

Next week, we’ll talk another exciting approach – one that’s driving another potential pillar for cancer care, next-gen CAR-T therapy.