A hospital in Madrid has reached a notable milestone for OncoSil Medical, with the Australian medical device company confirming that its device has now been used to treat its 100th patient in Spain.
The procedure took place at Hospital HM Sanchinarro. The ASX-listed company described it as an important marker of how far its European commercial push has come since it first began establishing a foothold in the country.
OncoSil is a single-use brachytherapy device that delivers a carefully calculated dose of beta radiation directly into cancerous tissue, using tiny phosphorus-32 microparticles placed within the tumour itself.
The idea behind the targeted approach is to concentrate radiation on the cancer while sparing the healthy organs around it, an important consideration for a disease that is notoriously difficult to treat.
In markets outside the United States, including Spain, the device is approved for use in patients with unresectable locally advanced pancreatic cancer, given alongside gemcitabine-based chemotherapy.
Spain records around 9,200 new cases of pancreatic cancer every year, according to global cancer data cited by the company, underlining the scale of unmet need.
Pancreatic cancer remains one of the most lethal cancers worldwide, ranking as the twelfth most common cancer in men and the eleventh most common in women, with roughly 500,000 new cases diagnosed each year globally. Because it is so often caught late, long term survival rates remain poor, which is part of why clinicians have been willing to explore newer localised treatment options such as OncoSil.
Since entering the Spanish market, OncoSil has built out a network that now spans 11 active treatment sites across the country. That expanding footprint has been central to reaching the 100 patient mark, the company says, reflecting a steady deepening of relationships with hospitals and specialist cancer centres willing to adopt the device into everyday clinical practice.
Nigel Lange, the company's chief executive and managing director, said the milestone reflected genuine progress in one of OncoSil's key European markets. He pointed to what he described as growing engagement from clinicians and hospitals across Spain, and said the company's attention was now shifting toward driving greater utilisation across its existing network of sites rather than simply adding new ones. He also thanked the clinical teams involved, singling out the staff at Hospital HM Sanchinarro who treated the landmark 100th patient.
