The UK’s medicines watchdog positively
reviewed Endomag’s magnetic liquid tracer in a new Medtech
Innovation Briefing1
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A vial of the Magtrace lymphatic tracer
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NICE ISSUES A POSITIVE MEDTECH INNOVATION
BRIEFING FOR ENDOMAG’S MAGTRACE® BREAST CANCER LYMPHATIC
TRACER
The UK’s medicines watchdog positively reviewed
Endomag’s magnetic liquid tracer in a new Medtech Innovation
Briefing1
Endomag’s lymphatic tracer, Magtrace®, has received a positive
Medtech Innovation Briefing (MIB) from the National Institute for
Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for locating sentinel lymph
nodes. The magnetic liquid is the first and only tracer to receive
this positive endorsement and allows any patient or hospital to
access the highest standard in breast cancer staging, without the
need for nuclear facilities or radioisotopes.
NICE’s positive review is a national mark of excellence,
informing local NHS planning and decision-makers how to provide
better patient care. It was published as part of a Medtech
Innovation Briefing commissioned by NHS England in support of the
NHS 5-Year Forward View, to accelerate innovation in new treatments
and diagnostics.
To determine if breast cancer has spread, doctors analyse the
“sentinel”, or nearest, lymph nodes to the tumour to see if they
contain cancer cells. Magtrace® helps doctors mark these sentinel
nodes by emitting a magnetic signal to guide them to the site of
the nodes. Its tiny magnetic particles quickly pass through the
lymphatic system and follow the same path a spreading cancer cell
would take. It can be injected any time between 20 minutes and 30
days ahead of a sentinel lymph node biopsy, reducing the patients’
time in hospital and enabling the more efficient use of NHS
resources.
Commonly, a radioactive isotope, technetium-99m, and blue dye is
used to mark sentinel lymph nodes for biopsy. However, when the UK
left the European Union in January 2020, it also left Euratom, a
commissioning body which governs the use and transport of
radioactive material like technetium-99m. Subsequent delays have
resulted in some NHS hospitals staging breast cancer with just blue
dye, associated with a high false negative rate of 13%, as well as
a risk of allergic reaction, or anaphylaxis.2,3
“A sentinel lymph node biopsy is the standard of care for
staging early breast cancer and is vital in helping us understand
whether cancer has spread,” explains Kate Williams, Consultant
Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon at North Manchester General Hospital,
Manchester Foundation Trust, and one of the experts that
contributed to Magtrace’s NICE’s briefing. “It’s concerning to hear
that women with breast cancer are having this procedure with
substandard techniques when there are non-radioactive alternatives
like Magtrace, ready and available.”
Unlike technetium-99m, the Magtrace® lymphatic tracer is
manufactured in the UK and requires no nuclear facilities to be
stored or used. It is also well-tolerated and carries no risk of
allergic reactions.3 As the UK Government works to address the
cancer backlog seen as a result of the pandemic, and to fulfil its
promise to ‘level-up’ its commitment to UK science and technology,
Endomag’s Magtrace® could play a vital role in supporting the
healthcare system to tackle the challenges seen with the current
standard of breast cancer care.
“Breast cancer is better understood than any other cancer today.
And yet, the need for innovation has never been greater, as so many
patients have been missed during the pandemic. We feel more
determined than ever to make a difference after this NICE positive
review, which confirms that innovative UK technologies like the
Magtrace marker can play a role to help the health system continue
staging breast cancer,” said Eric Mayes, CEO, Endomag.
To compile its Medtech Innovation Briefing, NICE obtained
feedback from clinical experts who all agreed that the Magtrace®
lymphatic tracer’s magnetic mechanism of action was a key
innovative feature. Magtrace® has been shown to be non-inferior to
technetium-99m and blue dye in numerous clinical trials involving
over 5,000 patients.
In total, over 160,000 women across more than 600 hospitals in
40 countries have already been able to access more precise and less
invasive breast cancer treatment thanks to Endomag’s technologies.
Endomag welcomes NICE’s positive review of the Magtrace® lymphatic
tracer and will continue to work to support access and improve
standards of care for all breast cancer patients.
+++ENDS+++
About Endomag
Endomag is a global technology company that believes everyone
deserves a better standard of cancer care. Many of the world’s
leading physicians and hospitals use the company’s technologies to
help women with breast cancer avoid surgery when it isn’t needed,
and experience better outcomes when it is.
Originally founded in 2007 out of research from University
College London (UCL) and the University of Houston, Endomag
harnesses the power of magnetics to enable a better standard of
cancer care.
The heart of the company’s product platform is the Sentimag®
localisation system. The Sentimag® system features a probe which
works like a metal detector, and when placed near the skin’s
surface is used to detect Endomag’s magnetic seed (Magseed®) or
liquid tracer (Magtrace®), for tissue localisation and sentinel
node biopsy procedures.
Endomag is headquartered in Cambridge, UK, with an office in
Austin, Texas. To date, the company has helped tens of thousands of
women around the world access more precise and less invasive breast
cancer care.
References
1 NICE. Magtrace and Sentimag for locating sentinel lymph nodes.
Available at: https://www.nice.org.uk/advice/mib263 Last Accessed,
August 2021.
2 Li J, et al. Sentinel lymph node biopsy mapped with methylene
blue dye alone in patients with breast cancer: A systematic review
and meta-analysis. PLoS One. 2018;13(9):e0204364. Published 2018
Sep 20.
3 Zada A, et al. Meta-analysis of sentinel lymph node biopsy in
breast cancer using the magnetic technique. Br J Surg. 2016
Oct;103(11):1409-19.
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Callum Haire Hanover Communications for Endomag
Chaire@hanovercomms.com 07867 429 637