Orphan drug status has been assigned to new glioblastoma drug

According to a press release by American manufacturer Plus Therapeutics, the FDA has assigned an orphan drug status to a drug based on rhenium nanoliposom. The drug has been approved for patients with recurrent glioblastoma therapy, a fatal form of brain cancer (virtually unresponsive to existing drugs).

Rhenium nanoliposomes are designed for the safe delivery of a radioactive substance directly to a tumor in the brain. According to the manufacturer, rhenium nanoliposomes can improve the standards of therapy not only for brain tumors, but also for other difficult-to-treat radiosensitive tumors. Rhenium isotopes are the leading radionuclides in nuclear medicine. Many of them are specific for tumor cells, but the main problem was in the delivery of radioactive particles to neoplasms localized in vital organs. Plus Therapeutics has solved the problem with nanotechnology - rhenium nanoliposomes cross the blood-brain barrier and deliver radioactive particles directly to a tumor.

Source: HEALIO