Combat Medical Ltd

Today is the start of Less Survivable Cancers Awareness Week. Over the last four decades, we have seen significant improvements in survivability in some types of cancer, but tragically others remain as lethal as they were 40 years ago. Six of these less survivable cancers – cancer of the pancreas, lung, liver, brain, oesophagus and stomach) are together responsible for 50% of all deaths from common cancers, even though they only make up 25% of cancer cases. Life expectancy for people diagnosed with these cancers is alarmingly short. On average, only 16% survive for 5 years following diagnosis, with only 13% of those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in England surviving for 2 years. #medicalinnovation #LessSurvivableCancersAwareness #pancreaticcancer #HIPEC #CombatMedical

Have you caught up with our YouTube interview series, Combat Innovators: The Present and Future of Cancer Treatment? These feature some of the world’s top clinicians in urology and surgical oncology, discussing research and treatments in bladder cancer and peritoneal tumours, including colorectal, ovarian and pancreatic cancer – areas in which we are making a difference with our Combat BRS (bladder recirculation system) and PRS+ (peritoneal recirculation system with CO2 agitation) for HIVEC® and HIPEC. Link is here: https://bit.ly/3RPaJOt If you’d like to be featured in a future interview, please get in touch with Guy Cooper #medicalinnovation #HIPEC #ovariancancer #coloncancer #pancreaticcancer #HIVEC #bladdercancer #CombatMedical

Over 614,000 patients are diagnosed with bladder cancer every year, and around 70-85% of those have non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). Current treatment comprises complete resection of visible tumour, with adjuvant BCG intravesical installation recommended to reduce the risk of recurrence and progression in patients with high-risk NMIBC. However, tumours recur in at least 40-50% of these patients, with 10-20% progressing to muscle-invasive or metastatic bladder cancer. The standard of care for BCG-unresponsive patients is radical cystectomy, involving removal of the bladder together with nearby lymph nodes, and often part of the bowel, the prostate gland and seminal vesicles in males, and the womb and fallopian tubes in females. It is curative in 80-90% if performed prior to progression to muscle-invasive bladder cancer. However, radical cystectomy may not be a suitable treatment alternative as it is associated with a higher degree of morbidity and mortality, while some patients refuse it on quality-of-life grounds. Combat Medical has entered into partnership with the University of Leicester to run a phase 3 trial of its HIVEC® treatment for BCG-unresponsive nonmuscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) as an alternative to radical cystectomy. HIVEC®’s use as a safe and well-tolerated bladder-sparing alternative to radical cystectomy in BCG-unresponsive high-risk NMIBC has already been demonstrated in a series of smaller prospective and retrospective studies. HIVEC®-HEAT – HIVEC® (Hyperthermic intravesical mitomycin mEdac) for pAtients with BCG-unresponsive nonmuscle-invasive bladder cancer Trial – is a multi-centre, single-arm interventional trial across 25 NHS hospitals in the UK. We’re confident this phase 3 trial will prove that HIVEC® is a game-changer in the treatment of high-risk, BCG-unresponsive patients, especially at a time of acute BCG shortages worldwide. #medicalinnovation #bladdercancer #HIVEC #HIVECHEAT #CombatMedical

“What’s the future for bladder cancer? It’s the epidemiology and the fact that we need to encourage better lifestyles. We also need to pick it up earlier, particularly for females – that’s a big issue because they have poorer outcomes for bladder cancer, partly because we always think it’s just UTIs when it’s not. But I think the biggest thing for me… is about biomarkers. I really think that’s the future.”   Find out more in our YouTube interview with Professor Shingai Mutambirwa, chief of the Divison of Urology at the Sefako Makgatho Institute in Pretoria.   https://bit.ly/45TArpN #medicalinnovation #bladdercancer #HIVEC #HIVECHEAT #CombatMedical

Why use hyperthermia for the treatment of non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC)? 💥 Therapeutic hyperthermia involves heating tissues to between 41°C and 44°C. Cancer cells are more sensitive to heat than normal cells, making this approach particularly advantageous. 💥 When combined with chemotherapy, hyperthermia enhances the treatment's effectiveness, delivering a synergistic effect that significantly amplifies chemotherapy's impact compared to standard room-temperature application. 💥 Mitomycin C remains stable up to 50°C and exhibits 1.4 times higher activity at 43°C. 💥 Hyperthermia impedes tumour-induced angiogenesis, preventing the formation of new blood vessels necessary for tumour growth. 💥 A 10-fold increase in chemotherapy cytotoxicity is observed at 43°C without adding toxicity for the patient. 💥 Elevated temperatures disrupt the lipid-protein bilayer of cancer cell membranes, increasing permeability due to the denaturation of membrane and cytosolic proteins. 💥 This process facilitates greater intracellular accumulation of the chemotherapy drug, directly targeting cancer cell DNA by causing strand breaks, inhibiting transcription, and disrupting replication and cell division. 💥 Hyperthermia also boosts the immune response by activating natural killer cells (NKCs) that attack cancer cells marked with heat-shock proteins. This promotes apoptosis, effectively encouraging cancer cells to self-destruct. The Combat BRS (Bladder Recirculation System) is the first system specifically engineered to deliver thermotherapy (HIVEC®) within precise parameters, optimising chemo-hyperthermia while ensuring patient safety and comfort, and without requiring additional resources. #medicalinnovation #HIVEC #HIVECHEAT #CombatMedical

These sobering statistics make it more important than ever to offer efficacious, well-tolerated and highly cost-effective therapeutic options for bladder cancer. Our Combat BRS technology, a HIVEC® (intravesical chemo-hyperthermic) recirculation system with mitomycin C, has been used in more than 100,000 treatments in over 40 countries and shown in a recent analysis to have greater efficacy and at a far lower cost than the FDA-approved pembrolizumab.* *Rieger et al, Cost-effectiveness analysis of different treatment modalities in BCG-unresponsive NMIBC. BJU International, 2024; Mar 16 #medicalinnovation #HIVEC #bladdercancer #CombatMedical

Our YouTube interview series – Combat Innovators: The Present and Future of Cancer Treatment – features insights and ideas from some of the world’s top clinicians in urology and surgical oncology. Find out more about research and treatment developments in areas including bladder cancer, colorectal cancer, ovarian cancer and peritoneal cancer, where our Combat BRS (bladder recirculation system) and PRS+ (peritoneal recirculation system with CO2 agitation) technologies for HIVEC® and HIPEC are making a difference to patient outcomes. Tune in here: https://bit.ly/3RPaJOt If you’d like to be featured in a future interview, please get in touch with Guy Cooper #medicalinnovation #HIPEC #ovariancancer #coloncancer #pancreaticcancer #HIVEC #bladdercancer #CombatMedical

Best wishes to all our colleagues, clients and patients for 2025! We’ll be working hard to help secure better outcomes for people with bladder cancer, ovarian cancer, colon cancer and pancreatic cancer through our world-leading Combat BRS and PRS+ hyperthermic technologies. And we’re looking forward to the HIVEC-HEAT phase 3 trial for BCG-unresponsive, non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer getting underway in partnership with the University of Leicester. It’s going to be an exciting year! #medicalinnovation #bladdercancer #HIVEC #HIVECHEAT #ovariancancer #coloncancer #pancreaticcancer #HIPEC #CombatMedical

Combat Medical would like to wish you all a very happy New Year and a successful 2025!

Are you thoroughly bored with festive films and reviews of the year? Then why not tune into our YouTube channel’s Combat Innovators: The Present and Future of Cancer Treatment?   It features fascinating interviews with some of the world’s top clinicians in urology and surgical oncology, covering bladder cancer, peritoneal tumours and their treatments, both current and in development – all areas we are involved in with our Combat BRS and PRS+ for HIVEC® and HIPEC alike. Here's the link: https://bit.ly/3RPaJOt   If you’d like to be featured in a future interview, please get in touch with Guy Cooper   #medicalinnovation #HIPEC #ovariancancer #coloncancer #pancreaticcancer #HIVEC #bladdercancer #CombatMedical