McMaster’s Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization (CPDC) is working to develop new nuclear imaging probes to use in immunotherapy, a type of treatment designed to boost the body’s natural defenses to fight cancer.
The CPDC announced that it has licensed the Centyrin® platform from Janssen Biotech, Inc. to use in combination with its radiopharmaceutical expertise to create nuclear imaging probes against immunotherapy drug targets.
Immunotherapy has become one of the most active areas in oncology where there is a need for better diagnostic tools to monitor patient response. Nuclear imaging probes are a special class of molecules that are administered to patients in order to visualize their cancers using non-invasive imaging devices such as PET scanners. Molecular probes can reveal characteristics about the disease that may help physicians select the optimal therapy for a patient and furthermore tell physicians very early on if a treatment is working.
“We are thrilled to combine the targeting and precision tuning capabilities of the Centyrin® platform with our expertise in radiopharmaceutical development to create novel tools with the potential to enhance immunotherapy drug development and further accelerate its use,” says Dr. John Valliant, founder and Chief Executive Officer of CPDC.