MD Anderson Cancer Center and Rakuten Medical Inc. formed a collaboration to develop cancer therapies based on Rakuten Medical’s Illuminox technology platform.
“The Illuminox technology represents a new form of therapy with the potential to selectively target cancer cells while sparing surrounding normal tissues through light-activatable antibody-dye conjugates,” Jeffrey Myers, chair of head and neck surgery at MD Anderson, said in a statement.
The Illuminox technology platform is based on a cancer therapy called photoimmunotherapy, developed by Hisataka Kobayashi and colleagues from NCI. Illuminox is a technology combining drugs and laser device systems being evaluated for the treatment of different cancers.
Under the agreement, Rakuten Medical and MD Anderson will collaborate to conduct studies based on the Illuminox technology platform and to determine study designs, combination therapies, and target patient populations for future clinical trials. The alliance is designed to expand development of the technology and bring a novel therapeutic approach to patients with cancer, with an initial focus on those with head and neck cancers. This agreement expands upon an existing sponsored research agreement between Rakuten Medical and MD Anderson.
