On June 15, 2021 Quirem Medical reported that A first clinical QuiremSpheres patient procedure took place with radioactive holmium-166 microspheres that were activated at the BR2 reactor in Mol, Belgium (Press release, Quirem Medical, JUN 15, 2021, View Source [SID1234584001]). QuiremSpheres is an innovative product for treating liver cancer patients. In 2020, primary liver cancer was the 7th most common cancer worldwide, responsible for 905,677 new cases. This equates to 4.7% of all cancers diagnosed in 2020. Primary liver cancer became fatal that year for 830,180 patients worldwide, making liver cancer the third most deadly cancer of 2020, accounting for 8.3% of all cancer-related deaths.
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"We are very pleased that after a period of extensive testing and validation, we can now use the BR2 reactor for clinical productions." says Jan Sigger, CEO of Quirem Medical. "SCK CEN has proven to be a strong partner and we value their commitment during the development process leading up to this first clinical case. With the high reliability of the BR2 reactor, we are confident we can meet the strongly increasing demand for our products throughout Europe and beyond."
"The Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (SCK CEN) is a global leader in the field of nuclear research, services and education. SCK CEN is operating the BR2 reactor and has a long-standing tradition of partnering with healthcare companies to secure the global supply of medical radioisotopes. We are excited that we are now also able to support the production of holmium-166 microspheres for the treatment of liver cancer." says Bernard Ponsard, Stakeholder Manager of the BR2 reactor for radioisotope production and silicon doping.
QuiremScout is a unique product that allows for screening of patients that are candidates for Selective Internal Radiation Therapy (SIRT). QuiremScout is unique, as it is the only CE-marked product on the market for that purpose. It is more predictive than the current standard, Tech-99m-MAA.
QuiremSpheres, the next generation of radio-embolization microspheres, is the only commercially available SIRT product that contains holmium-166 microspheres. Unlike the widely adopted yttrium-90 microspheres, holmium-166 microspheres can be visualized in low concentrations by means of Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). This allows clinicians to quantitatively assess the distribution of microspheres in the liver, enabling accurate evaluation of treatment directly after the radio-embolization procedure.