Cancer, Research & Technology

Corewell Health and BAMF Health Partner on Clinical Trial to Test Targeted Radiation Therapy for Cancer Patients

Novel radiopharmaceutical trial could be a game-changer for patients with advanced cancer whose chemotherapy treatments have been unsuccessful

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich, March 4, 2024 — BAMF Health, a world leader in molecular imaging and theranostics, and Corewell Health™ Haworth Innovative Therapeutics Clinic are partnering on their first collaborative clinical trial to investigate a new targeted liquid radiation therapy that could provide a better treatment option for cancer patients whose chemotherapy treatments have been unsuccessful.

The Y-mAbs Therapeutics sponsored Phase 1 clinical trial is now accepting patients, both adult and adolescent, with recurrent or resistant small cell lung cancer, sarcoma and malignant melanoma. The treatment that is under investigation, also known as radioimmunotherapy, works by delivering radiation directly to tumor cells. This new type of delivery method is much different from chemotherapy or standard external radiation therapy.

“We hope that this investigational, two-step delivery method will allow us to treat tumors with high doses of radiation with minimal impact to other healthy organs,” said David Hoogstra, M.D., endowed director of the Haworth Innovative Therapeutics Clinic at Corewell Health Grand Rapids Hospitals – Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital. “If successful, this approach may be adapted to treat many other forms of cancer.”

Dr. Hoogstra and Brandon Mancini, M.D., MBA, FACRO, medical director at BAMF Health, will serve as co-principal investigators and will conduct different phases of the clinical trial between both clinic locations in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

First, patients enrolled in the trial will receive tumor-targeting treatment with an antibody construct that binds to a protein called GD-2 on the surface of the cancer cells. Patients will then receive a radioisotope infusion that specifically binds to the antibody construct and delivers the liquid radiation to cancer cells.

According to Dr. Mancini, the therapy also has the potential to be more effective and precise.

“This clinical trial could be a game-changer for adults and adolescents with an advanced cancer diagnosis,” Dr. Mancini said. “For these trial patients, chemotherapy has not been successful and has potentially come with significant side effects. We are hopeful that this unique targeted investigational therapy, which was developed by Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is more effective and precise with potentially fewer side effects for patients.”

According to the researchers, there’s potential promise in radioimmunotherapies, especially for pediatric patients, and this collaborative partnership is a meaningful step toward making these powerful therapies widely available for patients here in Michigan and across the country.

“BAMF Health’s theranostics expertise combined with Corewell Health’s world-class oncology care is a winning combination for patients in our area,” said Dan Rogers, MBA, CCRC, director of clinical trials at BAMF. “Collaborations like this are rare but crucial to provide complex care to patients. Teams at both institutions have really come together to launch this trial for our patients, and we hope this is the first of many for this partnership.”

BAMF Health and Corewell Health were chosen as a unified site alongside other prestigious medical centers including Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, HonorHealth, City of Hope National Medical Center, Case Western Reserve University, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, and University of Wisconsin-Madison.

For more information or if interested in participating, call Corewell Health at 616-267-9956 or visit spectrumhealth.org/haworthclinic.

About Corewell Health™

People are at the heart of everything we do, and the inspiration for our legacy of outstanding outcomes, innovation, strong community partnerships, philanthropy and transparency. Corewell Health is a not-for-profit health system that provides health care and coverage with an exceptional team of 65,000+ dedicated people—including more than 12,000 physicians and advanced practice providers and more than 15,500 nurses providing care and services in 21 hospitals, 300+ outpatient locations and several post-acute facilities—and Priority Health, a provider-sponsored health plan serving more than 1.3 million members. Through experience and collaboration, we are reimagining a better, more equitable model of health and wellness. For more information, visit corewellhealth.org.

About BAMF Health

BAMF Health leads the field in using molecular imaging and non-invasive molecular therapy to diagnose and effectively treat cancer. Additionally, BAMF is one of the leading imaging centers in the world providing all patients access to advanced SPECT, CT, MR, PET/CT, and PET/MR imaging for all indications.

Ultimately, BAMF will apply its advanced technology and precision medicine platform to a wide range of cancers, neurodegenerative diseases, heart disease, endometriosis, chronic pain and other diseases and conditions. Visit www.bamfhealth.com/patients to learn more.

About Y-mAbs Therapeutics

Y-mAbs is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel, radioimmunotherapy and antibody-based therapeutic cancer products. The Company’s technologies include its investigational Self-Assembly DisAssembly (“SADA”) ​Pretargeted Radioimmunotherapy Platform (“PRIT”)​.

Contact:
Sarina Gleason
Media Relations
Phone: 517.256.5618
Email: sarina.gleason@corewellhealth.org