SonoFIRST
Prof. Alexandre Carpentier and his teams have developed an ultrasound technology (SonoCLOUD) to temporarily permeabilise the hematoencephalic barrier to increase chemotherapy delivery in recurrent glioblastoma. Given the promising results of the pilot study (A. Carpentier et al., Science Trans Med 2016; Idbaih et al. Clin Cancer Res 2019), Prof. Carpentier has just obtained a European grant of €3M to apply his technique to first-line glioblastoma, i.e. at the very beginning of the disease.
The European H2020 EITHealth programme will thus subsidise the very first European multicentre clinical trial on this innovative technique in the belief that it will significantly improve the survival of the 50,000 patients affected by this pathology every year in Europe and the USA. The reference clinical teams involved in this programme will be neurosurgeons, neuro-oncologists, neuroradiologists and radiotherapists from the Pitie-Salpêtrière Hospital (AP-HP), the Pierre Wertheimer Hospital (Hospices Civils de Lyon) Pellegrin Hospital (Bordeaux), Timone Hospital (Marseille Hospitals), Angers University Hospital, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium) and the Centre hospitalier universitaire vaudois CHUV in Lausanne (Switzerland).
The consortium includes AP-HP (coordination and promoter), Sorbonne University (development), CarThéra SA (production, Third Linked Party to Sorbonne University) and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. If this ultrasound technique allows chemotherapy to be introduced into the brain parenchyma five times more effectively in order to fight tumours more efficiently, it also offers hope for other brain pathologies, including Alzheimer’s disease.
SonoFirst video presentation
“EIT Health is a network of best-in-class health innovators backed by the EU. We collaborate across borders to deliver new solutions that can enable European citizens to live longer, healthier lives. As Europeans tackle the challenge of increasing chronic diseases and multi- morbidity and seek to realise the opportunities that technology offers to move beyond conventional approaches to treatment, prevention and healthy lifestyles, we need thought leaders, innovators and efficient ways to bring innovative health care solutions to market. EIT Health addresses these needs. We connect all relevant healthcare players across European borders –making sure to include all sides of the “knowledge triangle”, so that innovation can happen at the intersection of research, education and business for the benefit of citizens. For more information visit: www.eithealth.eu.”
