Quirem Medical's Microsphere Receives CE Mark Approval to Treat Liver Cancer

May 12, 2015— Quirem Medical announced that it is marketing a new radioembolization treatment that uses radioactive holmium microspheres to attack liver cancer tumors. The treatment, which was developed by the University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht, received European CE Mark approval in April.

According to the company, the treatment involves injecting radioactive beads into the hepatic artery, which then join the blood flow and become trapped in the tiniest blood vessels located in and around the liver tumors. The beads then emit their radiation close to the tumor.

Quirem Medical, which is based in the Netherlands, is a spin-off company of UMC Utrecht and was founded in 2013 by Chief Scientific Officer Frank Nijsen, MD, PhD. Dr. Nijsen is also Associate Professor at UMC. Until now, patients with liver tumors had been undergoing the holmium microspheres treatment in a scientific setting, but the company was founded to commercialize the treatment outside of UMC Utrecht.

The research group at UMC Utrecht in charge of the project will work closely with Quirem Medical to adapt the new treatment for treating tumors in other organs as well. This year, research will start on the use of holmium microspheres to treat head and neck tumors. For that application, too, unique imaging guidance with MRI introduces possibilities for closely monitoring the localized treatment of tumors and optimizing it as needed.

Prof. Maurice van den Bosch, MD, is an interventional radiologist at UMC Utrecht and is closely involved in the development of this new treatment. He commented in the company’s press release, “I expect great things from this holmium therapy. Patients with liver tumors will benefit, and I hope that we will be able to treat patients with other tumors more effectively in the future as well.”

Dr. Nijsen commented, “We consider our holmium microspheres as the next generation of microspheres. Treating liver tumors with yttrium microspheres is already a proven and valued cancer therapy using radioembolization. The new holmium microspheres constitute the next step in the development of this technology. Because they show up on magnetic resonance imaging scans and single-photon emission computed tomography, these microspheres can be tracked, allowing customized treatment for each individual patient. Now that we have been awarded CE Marking, patients all over Europe can benefit.”