The goal of cancer surgery is to remove all of the cancer from the body, which involves using cutting tools to remove the cancer cells, and some healthy tissue around them.
The increasing usage of an imaging drug, Cytalux, enables surgeons to identify and then remove more, if not all cancer cells during surgery.
The manufacturer, On Target Laboratories, said Cytalux binds to folate receptors and enters tumor cells. It glows a bright neon green during surgery.
“In layman’s terms, you’re trying to make sure you get the cancer, but preserve the tissue,” said Bill Peters, CEO of On Target.
“During surgery, it allows for surgeons to recognize lesions that may be very early stage, maybe small, and can often be missed — up to 20% of the time — with traditional scans like CT or PET scans,” Peters said. “It lights up bright, iridescent green.”
Cytalux — or pafolacianine — was initially approved as an optical imaging agent for adults with ovarian cancer in late 2021, and was approved for adults with lung cancer a year later.
Often tumors are buried underneath the surface of an organ, making it impossible to see with the naked eye.
When a surgeon sees the neon glow of Cytalux, using a special camera, called a near-infrared imaging system, “They’re able to dissect, and then resect right around those edges, because that green is identifying the edge and the complete lesion of where the cancer is,” Peters said.
The enhanced imaging benefits both surgeons and patients, according to Peters, who hopes more doctors will become aware of the drug’s availability.
“The general trend in surgery is to be less invasive, and try to remove less tissue,” Peters said. “For surgeons, particularly in this type of surgery, we’d prefer to have them hear about it from their peers, rather than just sales professionals.”
Illuminated future cancer surgery uses likely
Peters said more than 1,000 patients with lung cancer have been treated with Cytalux. According to the company, the cancers On Target focuses on make up nearly 72% of all inpatient oncology procedures.
“We are on the cusp of precision surgery, with IMI, or Intraoperative Molecular Imaging,” Peters said. “I don’t want to get ahead of the FDA on where we are with them, but we certainly see the opportunity for Cytalux to be used in multiple different oncologic procedures as we go forward.”
Asked whether the drug and procedure is being covered by insurance: “We’re lucky. We’re one of eight companies to receive the NTAP procedural code that is given to help offset the cost for the hospital.”
The NTAP, or New Technology Add-On Payment, provides up to three years of additional reimbursement to hospitals for the use of certain new and innovative technologies.
“For the next couple of years we have the opportunity to offset the cost of this for the hospital,” Peters said. “It’s a recognition of the CMS, of the criticality of the surgery, we’re involved in, and the value we provide.”
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