SCINTIX Therapy Expands in the Northeast

The ribbon cutting at Smilow Cancer Hospital on January 4, 2024, marked a significant milestone in that it has become the first hospital in Connecticut to offer RefleXion Medical’s breakthrough SCINTIX® biology-guided radiotherapy (BgRT).

Approximately 430,000 people in the United States are diagnosed annually with tumors originating within or spreading to the lungs or bones. SCINTIX therapy is the only external-beam radiotherapy treatment to target single or metastatic lung or bone tumors using the cancer’s own biology. SCINTIX technology works by combining positron emission tomography (PET) imaging with external-beam radiotherapy: a radiotracer interacts with a tumor’s cells to produce photonic signals from emissions that the linac then fires radiation toward. It’s the first and only technology to effectively turn cancer on itself. The technology is currently approved for use with the radiotracer 18F-fludeoxyglucose or FDG.

“To be able to tell a patient and their family that you have the ability to attack directly their sites of metastatic disease, as well as treat them systemically, opens an incredible window of hope for them. And that’s what this technology represents,” says Kevin Billingsley, M.D., chief medical officer of the Yale Cancer Center. “The opportunity to treat simultaneously multiple sites of metastatic disease with image guidance in real-time is really compelling. It’s a unique privilege and an honor for us as clinicians and as a team to be able to offer this to our patients.”

“We’re very excited to work with RefleXion as well as the staff and faculty to optimize this for lung and bone but also for other sites,” says Henry S. Park, M.D., chief of thoracic radiotherapy for the Department of Therapeutic Radiology at the Yale School of Medicine and assistant medical director of the Clinical Trials Office, Yale Cancer Center.

“RefleXion is thrilled to have Smilow Cancer Hospital as one of the early adopters of its technology and contribute to finding new applications, new tracers, new insights and discoveries about cancer.”

Sam Mazin, PhD
CTO and Founder at RefleXion

“RefleXion is thrilled to have Smilow Cancer Hospital as one of the early adopters of its technology and contribute to finding new applications, new tracers, new insights and discoveries about cancer,” said Sam Mazin, Ph.D., founder and CTO at RefleXion.

Yale Cancer Center is a National Cancer Institute-designated site and an international leader in cancer research and treatment delivery. “We believe in this treatment modality. Given Yale’s background in research and advancement in cancer care, this technology is a perfect fit,” says Frank Claudio, director of Radiation Oncology at Smilow. “We’re looking to make sure that we serve all of our patients, not only in the state, but regionally. Our Radiation Oncology Department (in New Haven) is a destination location for radiation therapy services. SCINTIX therapy is another tool that allows us to provide patients with the best care.”

Cancer patients have been treated with the conventional image-guided component of the X1 machine, which also delivers SCINTIX therapy, since May 2023. Patients will begin being treated using SCINTIX early this year. The Smilow clinician team has already identified three potential candidates. “We hope that our involvement with this and other key sites leads to groundbreaking treatments for patients. It can be a game changer for radiation therapy,” says Claudio. “From the research perspective, it’s important to be able to offer patients with multiple metastatic disease better treatment options.”

For its part, RefleXion will continue to provide support to its customers at their sites and work with them as they grow more comfortable in delivering SCINTIX therapy independently. The company is also focusing on clinical adoption and research into new applications of this breakthrough technology.