It has been announced by the International Strategic Cancer Alliance that a Dutch university that intends to launch global trials has purchased the Combidex technology.

Combidex is a scan contrast that periodically gets discussed among prostate cancer survivors, but it has not been available for a few years.  It is an injectable nanoparticle fluid (contrast) used with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that can visualize cancer metastases with pinpoint accuracy in lymph nodes as small as 2 – 3 millimeters, compared to conventional CT imaging, which can only visualize malignant nodes that are larger than 8 millimeters.

If it proves to meet its hype it will improve cancer diagnostic imaging.

The new owner of the technology is Radboud University Nijmegan Medical Center (RUNMC), a part of Stichting Katholieke Universiteit, a non-profit foundation in The Netherlands. Under the direction of radiologist Jelle Barenntsz, they will continue research and development of Combidex.  They have indicated they intend to conduct global clinical trials advancing towards regulatory application and its commercialization.

Given the many other new contrasts under development the question is will there be room for Combidex?

Reference: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa022749

 

 

Joel T. Nowak, M.A., M.S.W.