A company headquartered in the Pacific Northwest is investigating the use of a radioactive isotope-infused gel to treat canine soft-tissue sarcomas and feline sarcomas.
Advanced Medical Isotope Corp. of Richland, Washington, has asked the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine to classify RadioGel as a brachytherapy device.
Advanced Medical describes RadioGel as “a hydrogel liquid containing tiny Yttrium-90 phosphate particles to be injected into a tumor.”
“The particles emit a very high concentrated and contained beta irradiation to kill the tumor,” the company stated. “The beta radiation has a short penetration distance, so there is minimal collateral damage to healthy tissues outside of the injected area.”
Animal testing of RadioGel is being planned at the University of Missouri and could lead to a treatment for equine sarcoids as well.
The Veterinary Cancer Society is helping to spread the word.
“We previously announced our efforts to develop relationships with consortiums of private clinics as the most effective way to expedite our rollout,” said Advanced Medical’s CEO, Mike Korenko. “Through these discussions, it was clear that publishing our results with the Veterinary Cancer Society would provide significant benefit. To that end, the first poster on RadioGel was presented at the VCS annual meeting in late October.
“Our focused strategy will … allow us to enter the private clinical market prior to completing the animal testing on the wider variety of cancers.”