The Estero corridor is becoming a beacon for some of the most advanced, cutting-edge cancer treatment.
Southwest Florida Proton opened last December on Estero Parkway and now Curadel Pharma is seeking to build a 43,000-square-foot cancer treatment facility and headquarters two miles away on Corkscrew Road.
Curadel officials made their request last week to the Estero Planning Zoning and Design Board at a public informational meeting.
The site is at the southwest corner of Corkscrew and River Ranch roads. The building would house 35 corporate employees and a medical staff of 30. The facility would handle up to 72 patients daily in the first phase.
Curadel is based in Natick, Massachusetts, according to its website. It has a research and development facility in Bonita Springs and CEO Dr. John Frangioni lives in Naples.
“The site in Estero that we’re targeting would be a state of the art cancer treatment facility where patients from not only Southwest Florida but we anticipate around the world would come for this advanced treatment,” Frangioni said at the informational meeting.
Curadel likes the site because it’s near Southwest Florida International Airport and many hotels. The treatment only takes a couple of minutes, but they would be getting it once a week for several weeks so they most likely would stay in the area, Frangioni said.
Frangioni earned his medical degree from Harvard and taught at the medical school before starting Curadel in 2014.
The company is in the “image guided surgery space,” he said.
Pitchbook, a website that provides information to professional investors, described Curadel as a “developer of optical imaging systems designed to see the invisible and minute internal body parts. The company uses fluorescent near-infrared light, a special camera system, and an illumination technique to make imaging suitable for open operation and even minimally invasive surgery, enabling surgeons to see and operate cells and tissues in detail to avoid accidents during critical cancer surgeries.”
The company’s lead drug is in a “pivotal trial around the world right now,” Frangioni said. He hopes the drug gets FDA approval next year.
Curadel, for the past two years, has expanded its portfolio to a new class of cancer treatment drugs called targeted alpha therapy. The therapy is a cancer treatment that uses alpha-emitting radioactive isotopes to specifically target and destroy cancer cells while minimizing damage to healthy tissue.
The planning board had several suggestions about the building including flipping it around so the front faces River Ranch.
One nearby resident spoke about the project. Carlos Cook said he was concerned about traffic the project could create and flooding.
Curadel will return with final plans that will include a traffic study. The planning board and village council have to give final approval.
The other cutting-edge cancer center, Southwest Florida Proton, opened last December. The center has been providing photon therapy to cancer patients. It will begin providing proton therapy, a more advanced and precision technology, in December.
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