The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the dye Cytalux for use in the surgeries of patients with lung cancer. The new drug selectively binds to tumor cells and makes them glow under an infrared lamp. This will allow surgeons to operate more accurately and completely remove tumor tissue without affecting healthy tissue.Lung cancer is one of the most dangerous cancers. It is usually only diagnosed at a late stage, when the tumor has already spread. That’s why artificial intelligence and even dogs with a super-sensitive sense of smell are used to detect lung cancer.
In about one in five cases of the disease, the tumor remains localized enough to warrant surgical intervention. The success of such operations largely depends on how precisely the doctors managed to remove the malignant tissue. If some of it remains in place, the tumor may regrow and will require new treatment and often a new surgical intervention.
Increased the success of surgeries
To solve this problem, On Target Laboratories developed the drug Cytalux (Pafolacianine). It is applied to the patient before surgery and its glow can be viewed with a simple infrared camera. While surgeons remove the tumor by focusing on the bright parts during the surgery, they do not damage the clean tissues that are worth protecting.
The third phase of clinical trials of the drug in lung cancer surgery was conducted. More than 50 percent of the patients were observed to increase the effectiveness of the surgery. Final trial results were submitted in May 2022 and Cytalux has now received approval from the FDA.
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