HealthTech Word Cancer Day: smarter solutions to beat cancer

Cancer is still a worldwide scourge

Cancer is still the 2^nd cause of mortality worldwide, and its incidence has been steadily increasing since 1980.  The last Globocan study accounts for 18 million new cases and 9,5 million related deaths in 2018. More than 70% of all cancer deaths already occur in low and middle income countries and these regions are projected to account for two thirds of all cases of cancer worldwide by 2050. The number of cancer cases and related deaths worldwide is estimated to double over the next 20 to 40 years.

However, a very encouraging improvement in cancer diagnosis and treatment has been brought by intense medical research and technology development during the last 20 years.

Technological progress brings about a medical revolution

A wide set of new technologies is currently in development, from hardware to software, as illustrated on the scheme below.. These technologies are providing smarter solution for patients and clinicians to beat cancer.

A new multi-disciplinary approach is offering unprecedented possibilities

All technologies that have application in healthcare, i.e. nanomedicine, photonics, robotics, advanced materials and digital sciences are currently converging to accelerate the development of new devices that will revolution oncology. 

1.  Earlier, more precise and less invasive diagnosis of cancer: indeed, early detection of tumor cells is a major challenge of modern oncology since it drastically improves the chance of survival and recovery of patients. The discovery of new biomarkers as well as of new non-invasive ways to detect cancer is then key. For example, RUBYNanomed is developing a device enabling liquid biopsy, tumour cells detection directly in the blood thanks to microfluidics. Preclinical studies have already been achieved. Currently, new projects are focusing on cancer detection in the breathe!
2. More efficient and safer treatments of cancer. Surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy are currently the most common treatment options to fight against cancer. Depending on each individual patient’s profile of disease, these major therapies are commonly used either alone or in combination. New technologies already improve these therapeutic approaches and news products in development have the potential to do much more for patients in the coming years. For example:
   • Endomag has commercialized in 2017 a traceable magnetic nanoparticle, safer than usual radioisotopes, that helps localizing the tumor and guiding the surgeon
   • NOBEL Partner Nanobiotix is developing an X-ray enhancer directly injected in the tumor that improve potentially drastically the efficiency of radiotherapy
   • For more than a decade, nanocarriers allow to deliver anti-cancerous drugs directly to the tumour, enhancing the efficacy of the treatment and lessening the toxicity and side effects.

This was only an overview of current HealthTech innovation introduced during HWCD19 ! The collective effort allowing researchers, entrepreneurs and clinicians to provide us with means of action against cancer has to thrive. In this fight, NOBEL Project supports all of those actors by informing the public, by providing them with a common space to develop those multidisciplinary approaches and by accelerating innovation thank to our experts’ board, the HealthTech TAB.