Liquid immunotherapeutic fiducial eluter (life) GEL for cervical cancer - current treatment options for advanced cervical cancer are limited, with a 5-year overall survival rate of 17%. Innovative…

The National Cancer Institute awarded Nanocan Therapeutics Corporation $2,996,343 on September 24, 2025, to conduct the first clinical trial of the Liquid Immunotherapeutic Fiducial Eluter (LIFE) gel for treatment of advanced cervical cancer under the Cancer Treatment Research program (CFDA 93.395).

The LIFE gel is a biocompatible, biodegradable immunotherapeutic administered locally in conjunction with hypo-fractionated radiotherapy. The technology extends local radiotherapy's use from palliation to distant control of metastatic disease, aiming to improve outcomes for patients with 5-year overall survival rates currently at 17 percent. The Phase II STTR project will fund clinical demonstration of the LIFE gel product's safety and treatment protocol. The technology provides imaging contrast for precision radiotherapy and offers sustained immunotherapeutic delivery with minimal systemic toxicity. Preliminary studies show the gel can cause regression of both treated tumors and distant untreated metastatic tumors while enabling long-term immunologic memory.

Nanocan Therapeutics Corporation, a minority-owned for-profit entity, is the lead recipient. Johns Hopkins University collaborates on the project; Nanocan has licensed the underlying technology from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard Medical School. Work is performed in Maryland with period of performance through August 31, 2027.

Liquid immunotherapeutic fiducial eluter (life) GEL for cervical cancer - current treatment options for advanced cervical cancer are limited, with a 5-year overall survival rate of 17%. Innovative therapeutic approaches for metastatic disease that can increase access are greatly needed. To meet this need, in this project nanocan therapeutics corporation in collaboration with johns hopkins university, will develop innovative technology that can extend the use of local radiotherapy (RT) from palliation to distant control of metastatic cervical cancer with substantially reduced treatment time and cost, facilitating access to care. The new technology, which nanocan has licensed from the dana-farber cancer institute at harvard medical school is a liquid immunotherapeutic fiducial eluter (life) GEL that can be easily administered locally and works in conjunction with hypo-fractionated radiotherapy for treatment of patients with advanced cervical cancer. Preliminary studies illustrate that the use of the biocompatible/biodegradable life GEL technology can cause regression of both treated (local) and distant untreated (metastatic) tumors and enable development of immunologic memory controlling disease over the long term. This phase II sttr project will fund the first clinical trial to demonstrate safety of the life GEL product and treatment protocol. Innovative advantages of the life GEL include potential to overcome immunosuppression due to sustained delivery, minimal systemic/overlapping toxicities, simple short treatment regimen, and providing imaging contrast for precision RT. The highest clinical impact of the life GEL technology approach is anticipated in significantly improved survival of advanced cervical cancer patients. Preliminary studies also show that this can provide a substantially less expensive alternative to systemic treatment and replace the intensive regimens over months to a brief intervention, which will create significant opportunities for better cancer care.