(Seattle Times) – A dye derived from scorpion venom that lights up cancer cells so surgeons can see — and remove — deadly brain tumors will be tested for the first time in children, Seattle experts said Thursday.
Officials with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have expanded approval to enroll patients from infants to young adults in a clinical trial of the Blaze Bioscience drug BLZ-100, known as Tumor Paint.
“I think it does have the potential to be revolutionary,” said Dr. Sarah Leary, a pediatric neuro-oncologist at Seattle Children’s who is the principal investigator for the trial.
The first of 27 young patients up to age 30 with devastating brain tumors could begin enrolling within weeks, Leary said.
The move follows FDA approval last fall of the first U.S. human clinical trials of the drug pioneered by Dr. Jim Olson, a pediatric brain-cancer expert at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.