Henry Smith, Colorectal Education and Trainee Committee Member at ESSO, Associate Professor at University of Copenhagen, shared on LinkedIn:
“Major milestone reached at Abdominalcenter K, Bispebjerg Hospital.
We have now recruited and started treatment of the first patient in the OV-PRIME-R study, making Abdominalcenter K, Bispebjerg Hospital the first centre in the world to inject an oncolytic virus directly into a localised rectal cancer!
By doing so, we hope to dramatically improve response to immune checkpoint inhibitors and make immunotherapy a realistic treatment option for the majority of patients with rectal cancer.
It has taken an incredible amount of effort, and more time than I’d like to mention, to reach this point. But finally we get to put theory into practice! That wouldn’t have been possible without the fantastic team in our research unit Mette Barrit, Anja Kort, Camilla Lomholt Hansen and Isak Trap Lænkholm, our collaborators Vinicius A. B. de Lima and Camilla Qvortrup at Rigshospitalet, and the support of Novo Nordisk Foundation and Neye-Fonden
But the biggest thanks has to go to our first patient who has started this journey with us. Hopefully they will be the first of many to benefit from this new treatment combination.”
You can also read: 10 Must-Read Posts In GI Oncology This Week
