Jewish General Hospital partners with Quebec bio-pharmaceutical firm for one-of-a-kind targeted cancer therapy

The Jewish General Hospital is partnering with Quebec-based Starpax BioPharma for a new way to fight cancerous tumours that was 24 years in the making.

The hospital says it has the only "Polar Trak" machine in the world, which is exciting news for the fight against cancer.

"This is something very new, out of the box, something new," said Dr. Gerald Batist, an oncologist with the Segal Cancer Centre.

Dr. Michel Gareau, Founder and President of Starpax BioPharma, the Quebec-based medical company working on this project.

This is how it works: bacteria called "magnetodrones" carrying cancer-fighting drugs are injected into the tumour. The Polar Trak machine emits beams of light that converge to make a focal point on the patient where their tumour is located.

With that, a magnetic field is created around the tumour.

"It knows the tumour in 3D so the focal point moves in 3D and the bacteria follow them and saturate the tumour," said Dr. Michel Gareau.

The cancer-killing chemicals only reach the cancer cells within the tumour. Doctors say it promises to be a precision treatment, without side effects.

"We can direct the bacteria into the tumour and keep it there and the bacteria themselves detect low-oxygen and can swim to that area, so you get a double whammy and kill the tumour," said Dr. Batist. "So we've seen this in mice and in other animals and now we're making the big leap to humans."

The procedure has never been done before on humans and Quebec's Economy and Innovation Minister, Pierre Fitzgibbon, admits being a pioneer can come with risks.

"In the life sciences, we will be investing over $550 million in the next five years, there will be some projects that won't work but there will be some that will work," he said.

He said new innovations like this are "the only way out of the current situation and also helping society."

Doctors believe this targeted technology will improve the quality of life for cancer patients while reducing their suffering.

"Now more than ever we have an urgent need to think outside the box and consider possibilities we haven't thought of before," said Dr. Batist.

Clinical trials are set to start in the coming months.