A proud moment for Lumox: co-founder Irati Beltrán Hernández is featured in Het Financieele Dagblad as part of FD Talenten, the yearly selection of professionals under 35 who are shaping the future of their field.

Under the headline “Zij maakt kankermedicatie zonder bijwerkingen” (“She makes cancer medication without side effects”), the FD interview tells the story behind both the science and the person. Irati’s path into cancer research started early, when she experienced the disease up close at a young age. That moment didn’t turn into a “sad story,” as she says herself, but it became the starting point of a decade-long scientific journey focused on one question: can we treat cancer without harming the rest of the body?

“We make only the tumor sensitive to light”

At Lumox, Irati and her team are developing a cancer therapy that works differently from existing treatments. It is built around two safety mechanisms. Unlike chemotherapy or radiotherapy, it does not cause side effects such as hair loss or nausea, because the drug specifically targets the tumor and leaves healthy tissue untouched. The drug itself is inactive and only becomes effective when activated by light, locally and precisely. As Irati puts it in the article: “We make only the tumor sensitive to light.”

For now, Lumox is starting with head and neck cancer, where surgery can be life-altering and where light can be applied exactly where it is needed.

The science works. The idea is clear. Now comes the exciting part: building, scaling, and turning this into something that actually reaches patients. The full interview appeared in the FD magazine of February 7th.

About Lumox — Lumox is a Utrecht-based biotech company developing Rapid PhotoTherapy: a new generation of precision cancer medicines that combine a tumor-seeking nanobody with a light-activatable drug. The medicine remains inactive in the body until it is switched on with harmless light, exactly where and when it is needed, killing cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue. Lumox builds on more than a decade of research at Utrecht University and works closely with UMC Utrecht. More information: www.lumoxbiotech.com