A Peter Mac clinical trial will expand internationally to include patients in Israel and the Middle East, in a sign of Peter Mac’s growing relationship with Sheba Medical Centre in Tel Aviv.

Sheba Medical Centre’s Director General Professor Yitshak Kreissour tours Peter Mac.

The Peter Mac-led POPSTAR II clinical trial is due to open in early 2023 at multiple Australian sites and will compare two cutting-edge treatments for men with advanced prostate cancer – lutetium PSMA (LuPSMA) therapy and Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR).

During a visit to Australia this week, Sheba Medical Centre’s Director General Professor Yitshak Kreiss signed a Letter of Intent that would see Sheba Medical Centre become an international recruitment site for the POPSTAR II trial.

Peter Mac Chief Executive Professor Shelley Dolan - who visited Israel in early November - said it was the latest example of a growing international relationship between two leading centres of excellence.

“The international expansion of this clinical trial will boost access for men to innovative prostate cancer treatments that are being advanced in Australia,” Professor Dolan said.

“Peter Mac and Sheba Medical Centre signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) earlier this year to work together in areas of shared interest, and it is fantastic to see this coming to fruition for the benefit of people with cancer internationally.”

Professor Kreiss added: "We see our collaborative agreement with Peter Mac as an important step in strengthening our relationship with the Victorian Government within the realm of innovation and clinical research.”

“Peter Mac is an elite institution that is a leader in research and novel treatments, which endeavours to change the future of medicine, mirroring our vision for Sheba via our ARC innovation centre."

The MOU signed in May will help Peter Mac and Sheba Medical Centre to collectively advance innovation and commercialisation opportunities, research and scientific collaborations, opportunities for bilateral education and training, and fellowship programs and staff exchange.

Sheba Medical Centre - which is the largest hospital in the Middle East - has been listed as one of the world’s smartest hospitals for the past two years by Newsweek magazine, while Peter Mac was listed at number 19 in the recently released Best Specialized Hospitals category.

POPSTAR II is run by Peter Mac's Prostate Cancer Theranostics and Imaging Centre of Excellence (ProsTIC), led by Professor Michael Hofman, with principal investigators Associate Professors Shankar Siva and Aravind Ravi Kumar. Details: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05560659

 

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Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre is a world-leading cancer research, education and treatment centre and Australia’s only public health service solely dedicated to caring for people affected by cancer.