TECHNOLOGY
Could the long-awaited breakthrough for GBM patients be on the horizon? While breakthroughs in cancer treatment over the past 40 years have been truly life-changing, with recovery prospects and life expectancy in many common cancers revolutionised, that sadly is not true with regard to glioblastoma (GBM).
A particularly aggressive form of brain tumour, the outlook for GBM patients continues to be bleak, with the average survival time being just 12 to 18 months despite an intensive treatment regime comprising surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Only a quarter of people diagnosed with GBM survive for longer than this, with just five per cent still alive five years later. In a world where cancer treatments continue to be developed successfully, the overall outlook for most cancer patients is improving accordingly - 76 per cent of breast cancer patients now survive for at least ten years following diagnosis, a rate which has doubled in the last four decades. Sadly, this has not been the case for GBM patients.
NRTIMES
And it is that lack of progress in GBM treatment, which has inspired the creation of what just could be the longawaited breakthrough. Through the work of QV Bioelectronics, the potential of electric field therapy in helping GBM patients see better clinical outcomes and experience improved quality of life is being realised, with the combination of the biomedical engineering and neurosurgery expertise of its founders, helping to give hope for the future in an area where advances are desperately needed. “It is too long since we have had any change in how GBM is treated. The needle has moved massively in cancer care, but not in GBM. Our ambition is to increase the number of ‘long term survivors’ significantly - the ones who survive for several years, who currently only make up a very small percentage of all GBM patients,” says Qasim Akhtar, head of business development at QV Bioelectronics. And with the development of its implantable GRACE device, which would be used alongside the current standard of care, the business is already on its way to delivering on its ambitions. With a prototype device already made, and ongoing investment being raised to support its progress - with the last £735,000 seed funding round significantly oversubscribed - QV Bioelectronics is striving to be available on the market in late 2028. Further research and development is ongoing, with pilot studies moving into large animals next year, as
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