Theranostics can transform cancer care, GE Healthcare leaders say
The growing field of theranostics will provide more treatment options for millions of cancer patients, a GE Healthcare leader says.
“Theranostics is a combination of diagnosis and treatment, but it’s much more than that,” Sergio Calvo, global general manager of theranostics for GE Healthcare, said in an interview last week at the Radiological Society of North America’s annual meeting in Chicago.
Calvo defines theranostics as a targeted therapeutic approach that uses molecular imaging to visualize the same biological targets that drugs are designed to treat. Essentially, doctors scan cancer cells for molecular markers and then deliver drugs that bind to that receptor, allowing them to see and treat the disease in a connected loop.
Theranostics are not entirely new—the concept dates back to Marie Curie and early radioactive iodine treatments for thyroid cancer. However, it is now experiencing a growth spurt and renaissance, positioning the approach as a major innovation in cancer treatment, Calvo said.
Not only does this approach make it easier for clinicians to track whether the treatment is achieving its intended goals, it also produces fewer side effects than traditional radiation therapy. Calvo explained that the radiation is highly specific to cancer cells, so patients experience little nausea, no hair loss, and low toxicity.
He noted that two theranostics have been approved by the FDA, one for neuroendocrine tumors and another for prostate cancer, and dozens more are in development. He expects widespread growth in this area globally.
“In the next 10 years, in the United States and around the world, that number will grow 20-fold,” Calvo said.
Hospitals are increasingly investing in theranostics, but significant infrastructure development is still needed to expand their use, he added.
GE Healthcare plays an important role in advancing this field, not by developing drugs but by building the imaging and software infrastructure that makes theranostics possible.
For example, Calvo noted that the company's PET scanner can image small radiation doses and complete the scan in seconds instead of minutes. Last year, GE Healthcare acquired MIM Software, an image reading and planning platform that segments disease and helps clinicians assess patient response to treatment.
Calvo asserts that if technology advances rapidly and hospital investment continues to grow, theranostics could become a mainstream tool in oncology, potentially saving millions of lives.
Photo: koto_feja, Getty Images
