CU, CSU funding study on $300M cancer treatment facility

AURORA – The University of Colorado and Colorado State University are funding a $200,000 feasibility study on building the nation’s first carbon-ion radiotherapy research and treatment facility in Aurora at an estimated cost of $300 million.

The facility would offer patients leading-edge radiation therapy that is effective against the deadliest cancers and now is available only in Europe and Japan, according to a statement from Colorado State University on Wednesday

Colorado cancer researchers and doctors will meet Thursday at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, the site of the proposed research and treatment facility, to discuss the project.

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Carbon ions, compared to the protons and photons traditionally used in radiotherapy, are more precisely targeted to tumors and have been shown to cause minimal damage to normal tissues en route to tumors, said Jac Nickoloff, a radiation researcher and head of the CSU Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences, in a statement from CSU. Such a facility would offer next-generation cancer radiation to patients, particularly those with deadly tumors that cannot be treated with traditional radiotherapy without significant damage to other tissues and organs.

Cancer experts at CU and CSU have signed a memorandum of understanding to pursue the project with University of Colorado Health’s Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins and with carbon-ion radiotherapy pioneers at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS) in Japan, the first nation in the world to build a facility of this kind.

Cancer experts at CSU have worked for several years with colleagues at the CU School of Medicine and NIRS to explore the possibility of a carbon-ion research and treatment facility in Denver.

“We’ve also discussed the concept with state and federal leaders and policy makers,” said Dr. Mark Stetter, dean of the CSU College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, in a statement. “It’s clear that our collaboration offers distinct advantages for an international carbon-ion center that would provide truly needed help for animal and human cancer patients.”

CSU’s Flint Animal Cancer Center is internationally known for treating cats and dogs with cancer.

“As we’ve seen since 2008, when the CU Anschutz Medical Campus became fully up and running, state-of-the-art medical research and treatment facilities are an advantage to the entire region because they help patients while also generating scientific knowledge, innovation and economic development,” said Dr. Richard Krugman, vice chancellor for health affairs for the University of Colorado Denver and dean of the CU School of Medicine, in the statement.

CSU said a need exists for new and more effective approaches to cancer treatment in the United States, which has 1.6 million cancer cases and nearly 600,000 cancer deaths annually. Cancer is now the country’s No. 2 killer, after heart disease, and it is expected to become the No. 1 killer by 2030 because of the aging U.S. population.