INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Ovarian cancer is deadly, difficult to treat and has an extremely high mortality rate for women, killing 15 thousand people a year in the U.S.

But now, Rice University researchers in Texas are on a revolutionary path to develop an implantable device to activate the immune system and stop cancer in its tracks.

Ovarian cancer is deadly, often caught late, and spreads quickly. As a reactionary response to disease, abdominal fluid builds up.

“They have to continuously get it drained, but also, has been a barrier to getting drugs and other therapies to the abdomen space, where the cancer cells reside,” said Omid Veiseh, Ph.D., associate professor of bioengineering and director of Biotechnology Launch Pad at Rice University.

Traditional cancer treatment is static and takes time.

“So, we’re building this new technology as a totally new transformative way to manage cancer,” said Veiseh.

This three-inch implant is called a hybrid advanced molecular manufacturing regulator. These beads will hold the therapy.

“We’ve given this the acronym, HAMR, and this device, actually, both produces the drug, but monitors in real-time, how the therapy is working,” said Veiseh.

Immunotherapies are biologic drugs that activate the immune system to eliminate cancer.

“The clinician would be able to download data from this device, monitor this device, then be able to know exactly how the therapy is affecting the cancer, and make adjustments,” Veiseh said. “Our vision for this solution is, rather than hooking patients up to IV bags and monitors in hospital beds, what if you could miniaturize all that monitoring into a device that gets implanted?”

And the patients, monitored remotely, can just go home.

This story was created from a script aired on WISH-TV. Health Spotlight is presented by Community Health Network.