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Steba Biotech developed padeliporfin, a light-activated drug injected into the bloodstream and switched on by laser fibres in the prostate to destroy low-risk prostate cancer, approved in Europe as Tookad.
Steba Biotech developed vascular-targeted photodynamic therapy with padeliporfin (WST11, Tookad), a bacteriochlorophyll derivative created at the Weizmann Institute of Science. The drug is infused intravenously and activated by near-infrared light delivered through fibres placed in the prostate, causing rapid vessel occlusion and tumour necrosis. The European Commission approved Tookad in 2017 for unilateral low-risk prostate cancer after a randomised trial against active surveillance; it is also being studied in upper tract urothelial cancer.
Tookad is a light-activated drug for men with low-risk prostate cancer in one side of the prostate. It is infused and then switched on with laser fibres placed in the gland, destroying the cancer-bearing tissue as an alternative to watchful waiting.