Welcome to Next Generation PDTs' Website

What is Next Generation PDT ?

Next Generation PDT is a form of photodynamic therapy (PDT), a treatment which uses light to destroy cancer tissue.

This new therapy (NGPDT) and it's Whole-body Illumination Device (WID) are now 

FULLY APPROVED 

for medical applications in China.

In Next Generation PDT patients are given orally of a photosensitizing agent. This agent collects selectively in cancer tissue and, when exposed to light, becomes activated, releasing a highly energized, free radical form of oxygen known as singlet oxygen. Singlet oxygen destroys cancer cells from the inside out, while leaving normal tissues largely unaffected. Traditionally, PDT has been confined to treatment of superficial lesions or localized problems that can be either directly visualized or reached with endoscopic devices that are inserted into body orfices. Next Generation PDT on the other hand is aimed at treating whole regions of the body, and even more often, the body as a whole.

Next Generation PDT and PDT are both based on the principle of using light to kill pre-sensitized cancer cells, however, Next Generation PDT differs from older forms of PDT in several important ways. 

First, the sensitizing agent used in Next Generation PDT, Next Generation Photosensitizer (PhotoNexGen), is in many cases  more cancer - selective than the first generation agents typically used in PDT. The agents licensed by the FDA for use in PDT are for the most part hematoporphyrins, derived from cow and ox blood. These blood-derived photosensitizers accumulate in all the tissues of the body, not just in the cancer tissue and are very slow to be metabolized and excreted.  Patients who are given these agents must therefore be careful to avoid light for periods of weeks at a time or risk serious burns to the skin.  By contrast, Next Generation Photosensitizer is 95% metabolized and cleared from the body's healthy tissue within 24 to 36 hours, freeing patients from the need to hide from the sun for weeks after treatment.

Second, Next Generation Photosensitizer is more powerful (it has a much higher yield of singlet oxygen, the molecules that help to damage or destroy tumor cells). Because Next Generation Photosensitizer is much more sensitive and more powerful than existing photosensitizers and is activated at higher wavelengths, a greater depth of penetration is possible and a higher yield of singlet oxygen is achieved. In Next Generation PDT, activation takes place with light delivery from outside the body, minimizing the need for intrusive procedures such as endoscopy or laparoscopy. Next Generation PDT is a much less intrusive technique than PDT and there are fewer potential side effects.

A decade ago, Dr Jacob Lieberman wrote: 'I can foresee that, in the near future, photodynamic therapy, alone or in combination with other conventional techniques, will be able to successfully treat most, if not all, cancers and other life-threatening diseases.' We believe that time is now.

Many authors have written enthusiastically about the potential of PDT and maintained the hope that some day there would be a form of light therapy that would fulfill the enormous promise of the early work in this field. The scientific community now seems to have achieved that breakthrough in the form of Next Generation PDT.