There may be encouraging news for ovarian cancer patients on the way.
Ray Goodrich, professor in the department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology at Colorado State University, tells us more.
Faculty Bio:
Former Executive Director of the Infectious Disease Research Center, Ray Goodrich has been investigating vaccine candidates to combat the pathogens that cause COVID-19, tuberculosis and influenza. He also led the development program for a cancer vaccine targeting solid organ tumors.
Goodrich has worked in infectious disease research for more than 35 years, during which he has managed research staff and development programs in the fields of transfusion and transplantation medicine and pathogen reduction technologies. He has been awarded 58 patents covering technology in these areas and is a co-author of 300 peer reviewed articles and abstracts.
Goodrich is an active member of the American Chemical Society, serves on the board of directors for the Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies and serves as a special government employee for the Advisory Committee on Blood and Tissue Safety and Availability at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Transcript:
Earlier this year, a biotechnology startup I lead received a patent for an innovative new cancer immunotherapy developed at Colorado State University. More recently, we have been given clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin a Phase 1 clinical trial testing this therapy in humans.
The trial will be conducted in ovarian cancer patients at the City of Hope, a leading cancer research center in southern California. We are looking to begin enrolling patients around the end of the year.
Here’s how it works: We can extract and expose a patient’s own tumor cells to ultraviolet light and vitamin B2. This renders the tumor cells “quasi-dead.” Those cells, which can no longer divide and are not harmful, are then injected back into the patient. Although the cells are inactive, they help stimulate a patient’s immune system to develop a stronger immune response to attack the cancer in their body.
The treatment is similar to a process I developed decades ago to “clean” blood prior to it being given to patients in need of blood transfusions. This blood-cleaning process is widely used today and has helped greatly reduce the risk of transfusion-transmitted diseases.
I began adapting that process into cancer therapy in 2017 and it has proven effective across multiple studies, including in human tissue samples and in a pilot study in companion dogs at Colorado State University’s Flint Animal Cancer Center.
I am optimistic that this therapy may be able to help women who are battling ovarian cancer. If proven safe and effective, the treatment could also be used to treat other types of solid-tumor cancers.
This treatment could also greatly improve access to cancer therapy. The devices are small and relatively inexpensive — they could easily be deployed at regional centers and hospitals — and when more people have access to technologies like this, everyone benefits.
Read More:
[Colorado State] - Cancer therapy developed at CSU cleared for human clinical trials
