GT Medical Technologies Co-Founder to Receive Prestigious Rosenblum-Mahaley Clinical Research Award at 2019 American Association of Neurological Surgeons Annual Scientific Meeting

April 11, 2019 |

4 min read

Company to Present Positive New Data on GammaTile Therapy for Various Brain Tumors

TEMPE, Ariz. & SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- GT Medical Technologies, Inc., a company dedicated to improving the lives of patients with brain tumors, today announced that Peter Nakaji, M.D., GT MedTech’s co-founder and director of the Neurosurgery Residency Program at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, has been selected by the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS)/Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) Section on Tumors to receive the Rosenblum-Mahaley Clinical Research Award. The award recognizes established investigators in neuro-oncology who present the best clinical study in the field and acknowledges innovative approaches that lead to improved patient outcomes and quality of life. Previous winners of this prestigious award include John Sampson, M.D., Ph.D., Frederick Lang, M.D., Nader Sanai, M.D., and Jeffrey Bruce, M.D., among others. Dr. Nakaji will receive this distinguished recognition at the AANS Annual Scientific Meeting, held in San Diego from April 13 to 17.

The company also announced new preliminary clinical data from a prospective basket study, examining the safety and efficacy of the prototype predecessor to GammaTile^® Therapy to treat 79 recurrent brain tumors, including gliomas, meningiomas, and brain metastases. The study evaluates median treatment site local control, overall survival, and safety among patients who received the prototype GammaTile Therapy in combination with tumor resection surgery. Results published in the abstract are positive, demonstrating that tile brachytherapy improved local control and survival compared to existing treatments, along with comparable safety. This abstract has been selected as the best clinical research abstract on brain tumors for this year’s AANS meeting, where it will be presented by Dr. Nakaji.

“These data mark important progress in establishing GammaTile Therapy as a clinically validated treatment option for many brain tumor types,” said Dr. Nakaji. “I am encouraged to be able to offer this therapy to my patients – an option that in our study enhanced local tumor progression and extended overall survival among patients with a wide spectrum of brain tumors.”

Presentation time and location:

Surgically Targeted Radiation Therapy: A Prospective Trial in 79 Recurrent, Previously Irradiated Intracranial Neoplasms (Abstract #207)
Presented by lead investigator Peter Nakaji, M.D.
Monday, April 15, 3:40-3:49 p.m., during Scientific Session I: Tumor
San Diego Convention Center, Room 30CDE

Initial data from the study were published earlier this year in the Journal of Neurosurgery (JNS), the official journal of the AANS, demonstrating that GammaTile is a safe and effective new option proven to delay tumor progression in patients with previously treated, aggressive meningiomas, the most common type of primary brain tumor. Dr. Nakaji’s presentation at AANS will be the first time the full clinical data set – including high-grade gliomas, metastases, meningiomas, and other tumor types – is presented in a scientific forum. GammaTile Therapy received 510(k) regulatory clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of recurrent brain tumors in July 2018, and the therapy also has an established CMS code for Medicare reimbursement.

About GammaTile Therapy

GammaTile Therapy is an FDA-cleared, surgically targeted radiation therapy (STaRT) that is designed to delay tumor regrowth for patients with brain tumors. Featuring a bioresorbable, conformable, 3D-collagen tile and uniform radiation source, GammaTile Therapy is placed at the end of excision surgery so that it immediately begins to target residual tumor cells while limiting the impact of radiation on healthy brain tissue. GammaTile Therapy offers advantages over the most common treatment for patients undergoing surgery for recurrent brain tumors: a course of External Beam Radiation Therapy (EBRT), which requires daily treatments for up to six weeks. Because the therapy is implanted at the end of surgery, patients treated with GammaTile Therapy require no additional trips to the hospital or clinic for radiation therapy.

About GT Medical Technologies, Inc.

Driven to overcome the limitations of current treatments for recurrent brain tumors and raise the standard of care, a team of brain tumor specialists joined forces and formed GT Medical Technologies with a purpose to prevent disease progression and improve quality of life for patients with recurrent brain tumors. GammaTile Therapy received FDA 510(k) regulatory clearance for the treatment of all types of recurrent brain tumors in July 2018 and has an established CMS code for Medicare reimbursement. Extensive clinical expertise informed the design of GammaTile Therapy, and deep medical device experience guides the company. The company is headquartered in Tempe, Arizona. For more information, visit https://www.gtmedtech.com/ and follow @GTMedTech on Twitter.