Alpha Tau Brings Alpha DaRT to Europe: First Treated in ACAPELLA Trial

Alpha Tau Medical (NASDAQ: DRTS) has hit a key milestone in its pancreatic cancer program, successfully treating the first pancreatic cancer patient in Europe with its Alpha DaRT radiotherapy in the French multicenter ACAPELLA clinical trial.

What ACAPELLA is testing

ACAPELLA (Alpha DaRT for CAncer of the PancrEas in Locally advanced Adenocarcinoma) is a European, multicenter, open‑label trial evaluating Alpha DaRT combined with oral capecitabine in patients with inoperable locally advanced pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (LAPC) who have completed first‑line mFOLFIRINOX chemotherapy. This is a high‑need population with no established consolidation standard of care, despite having already received the current best available systemic treatment.

In the study, Alpha DaRT sources are delivered directly into the pancreatic tumor under real‑time endoscopic ultrasound guidance, followed three days later by two months of capecitabine. Tumor resectability is reassessed every two months, with patients followed for 12 months after the Alpha DaRT procedure.

Why this first European patient matters

The first ACAPELLA patient was treated at CHU Grenoble Alpes by lead investigator Prof. Gaël Roth and his team, marking the first use of Alpha DaRT for pancreatic cancer in Europe. With ACAPELLA now underway in Europe and the IMPACT trial progressing in the U.S., Alpha Tau is running two multicenter pancreatic programs in parallel, an inflection point for the company’s broader Alpha DaRT strategy in this notoriously hard‑to‑treat cancer.

For investors, this milestone helps validate Alpha Tau’s ability to operationalize its EUS‑guided Alpha DaRT approach across multiple centers and geographies, while targeting a setting with clear unmet need and potential for regulatory differentiation if data are strong.