Acute Radiation Syndrome - Lung

Radiation therapy is a common practice in battling chest cancer. While the benefits of that therapy outweigh the risks, many patients experience the adverse side effects of the treatment: skin changes, pain, chest wall discomfort, shortness of breath, esophagitis (difficulty swallowing), pneumothorax, rib fractures. Just when patients think that the side effects have been resolved, the delayed adverse effects of radiation therapy can appear from 1 or 2 months after the therapy to more than half a year later. Up to 30% of patients, who go through radiation therapy for lung cancer, develop clinically significant radiation-induced lung injury such as pneumonitis, an inflammation of the lungs, as a late side effect of radiation to the chest for lung, breast cancer, lymphomas, or other cancers. Patients can also develop lung fibrosis, which in rare cases has lead to death. Adverse side effects from radiation therapy increase significantly in patients receiving concurrent chemotherapy, which is the standard of care at most cancer treatment centers.

"It's a huge unmet need... With...data (phase 2 randomized trial), I would rate [LGM-2605] as an 8 or 9 out of 10 and would use it every day." Radiation Oncologist #2

The ability to deliver effective radiation therapy for chest cancers is limited by the toxic side effects to healthy normal lung tissues. The side effects often cause breaks in treatment or dose-limiting toxicity after treatment, and, therefore, limit the amount of radiation that can be delivered to the tumor.

"If you have something like this that didn't protect tumor but helped with surrounding structures, [the physician] would push the dose to get higher cure rates. This product could be a big seller." Radiation Oncologist #3

No current therapies are effective to protect healthy normal lung tissue from the damaging effects of radiotherapy. Radiation oncologists in our market research sample do not currently use any products to prevent or mitigate the adverse effects of radiation therapy.