| abstract: |
Glioblastoma (GBM), is the most aggressive form of primary brain cancer and is diagnosed in 22,000 people per year in the EU. GBM is the most aggressive primary brain cancer and, by annual incidence, the most common type of malignant brain tumour. Despite aggressive treatment, the cancer always recurs. The average survival after diagnosis is 12 to 15 months, with less than 3% to 5% of patients surviving longer than 5 years. The current standard of care extends overall survival to ~14 -16 months. Current valuation of the global GBM treatment market is estimated to be €615 million per year, and it is predicted to increase to over €3.08 billion by 2024 (compound annual growth rate of 17%), based on the projected approval of new therapies including Opdivo and Optune. The main aim of this ERC PoC proposal is to probe the commercial viability of two types of tumour-targeted payload hybrids, one as an improved chemotherapeutic treatment, and the other as a precision-guided imaging agent for PET/MRI-based diagnosis. Our goal is for the former to become the clinician’s chemotherapy of choice in the adjuvant phase of GBM treatment; and for the latter to be incorporated into PET and MR-imaging procedures as a method for identifying and diagnosing GBM, as well as a companion test for stratification of patients for therapy. |
