H e r a l d S u n13 Sept 2024Victorian-made tool Zircaix set to...

H e r a l d S u n
13 Sept 2024

Victorian-made tool Zircaix set to reshape treatment of kidney cancer worldwide

A Victorian-developed imaging tool is set to change how kidney cancer is diagnosed and treated globally following its success in clinical trials.

More than 4500 Australians are diagnosed with kidney cancer each year, and it remains one of the most difficult to detect without clear signs or symptoms in the early stages.This new tool involves an antibody attached to a radioactive probe, together known as a radiopharmaceutical.

It was found to be “highly accurate” in identifying kidney tumours in the phase three trials, which involved 300 patients in a multinational study.Called Zircaix, the imaging tool was developed by Melbourne-based Telix Pharmaceuticals.

The antibody attaches itself to a protein produced by cancerous clear cell renal carcinoma cells when injected into a patient’s blood, the company explained.

The tumours are then easily spotted on a PET scan to help doctors identify if a tumour is benign or malignant, and if has spread.It also offers the potential to avoid unnecessary biopsies and limit unnecessary surgeries.

Head of the Melbourne Theranostic Innovation Centre Professor Rod Hicks said until now, biopsy or invasive surgery had been the only ways to determine whether a patient had one of the most common and serious forms of kidney cancer.

“This has often led to masses being removed that are later determined to be benign,” he said.“We anticipate that the information (from this tool) will assist clinicians in making critical patient management decisions.”

One of the principal investigators of the trial is Professor Andrew Scott, who heads the Tumour Targeting Program at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute and is Director of the Department of Molecular Imaging and Therapy at Austin Health.

He described the tool as a lifesaver.“I would say thousands of patients in Australia will benefit from this,” Professor Scott said. “Globally, tens of thousands.”He said researchers, clinicians and hospitals in Victoria had been heavily involved in the development of the imaging test over many years.The first patient of the study was a Victorian — as were many of the 300 who took part in the final trial.The peer-reviewed results were published in The Lancet Oncology journal.

Key findings included that the tool was highly accurate, able to detect very small tumours and was safe.It also highlighted that the non-invasive nature of the technique may be beneficial to patients at risk of complications from a biopsy.“There’s been many, many patients where we’ve been able to show that kidney cancer was there and able to accurately identify and guide treatment,” Prof Scott said.

“And in other patients, we were able to show that it was not kidney cancer.“Because (the tool) is so accurate, it does mean that in the future patients having this test will have the appropriate treatment, either going for surgery to have the cancer removed, or not going for surgery if it’s felt that it’s a benign condition.”

The next steps will be seeking regulatory approval of the tool in the US and Australia.“A further study is also due to start shortly to see whether the same imaging agent can be used in patients who have known kidney cancer and to more accurately determine if it has spread or not,” Prof Scott said.