Inspiring Innovation is our round-up of news from a thriving innovation landscape collated by our Sector Intelligence team, now with a focus on news and updates relating to our priority area, cancer. Fuelling our ambitions to elevate Wales as a place of choice for health and social care innovation and investment.
In this edition, find out about a breath test that could detect pancreatic cancer and a new pill to help treat prostate cancer at home.
Swansea Bay University Health Board trial novel test that could detect pancreatic cancer earlier
Researchers from Imperial College London have developed a breath test that detects compounds that are released from a pancreatic tumour. Morriston Hospital are currently recruiting patients for their VAPOR study, a clinical trial to assess the potential of this breath test to facilitate the earlier diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, the 6th deadliest cancer in Wales. A patient’s breath can be collected and sent to a laboratory for analysis, where a positive result would prompt an urgent referral to an imaging service to confirm diagnosis. An initial acceptability study found that 99% of users said that the test was easy and comfortable to conduct.
Approximately 55% of pancreatic cancer patients in Wales are diagnosed at stage 4 of cancer progression, with only 16% diagnosed at stages 1 or 2.
Chris Macdonald, Pancreatic Cancer UK Head of Research said:
“Finding an early detection test would make the single biggest difference to pancreatic cancer survival in 50 years. We know that the vast majority of patients will present with early symptoms two years before they are diagnosed, so there’s a huge window of opportunity there. In future, simply blowing into a bag at the GP surgery could quickly open the way for an urgent scan, and for those that need it, the chance of potentially curative treatment.”
New prostate cancer pill approved for use in England
The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) have approved the use of relugolix (also known as orgovyx), an oral hormone therapy for people with advanced prostate cancer.
Relugolix, a daily oral pill, reduces the level of androgen hormones in the body, which are needed for cancer cells to grow. Specifically, relugolix lowers testosterone (a type of androgen) production in the testes, preventing prostate cancer cells from growing. Although use of this therapy does not cure prostate cancer, it can lower the risk of the disease coming back, in combination with other treatments.
Dr Lyndsy Ambler, Senior Strategic Evidence Manager at Cancer Research UK said:
“Around 150 people receive a prostate cancer diagnosis every day in the UK, that’s around 55,000 cases every year. Relugolix enables people to take a tablet at their own convenience, rather than an injection at the GP surgery. By moving care closer to people’s homes, drugs like this can help to improve the quality of life for people with prostate cancer.”
Cancer focussed innovator?
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