Clinical Development of Acoustic Cluster Therapy within Oncology

Offentlig prosjektsammendrag

EXACT Therapeutics AS is an Anglo-Norwegian biotech company evaluating the potential of ultrasound mediated therapeutic enhancement (sonoporation) based on its proprietary Acoustic Cluster Therapy (ACT) formulation, initially in the treatment of selected cancers. Research and development of ACT® has been conducted in collaboration with leading institutions in oncology research and development including the Institute for Cancer Research ("ICR")/Royal Marsden Hospital in London, UK, the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Arizona, US ("TGen"), Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway ("NTNU"). The Company has a long history of collaboration with GE Healthcare including manufacturing of the ACT® formulation and ultrasound probe development. ACT® is supported by strong and broad preclinical data demonstrating therapeutic enhancement in multiple oncology models, whilst the first-in-man phase I ACTIVATE study has been initiated at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London in Sept 2019. This study is evaluating the potential of ACT combined with standard of care chemotherapy in the treatment of patients with advanced colorectal cancer. Based on further successful development, it is anticipated that application of ACT® sonoporation in combination of chemotherapy will enhance the impact of the chemotherapy on tumour regression thereby increasing the probability of successful surgical resection. The ACT® platform has the potential to be disease and drug agnostic and is being developed for use with clinically approved diagnostic ultrasound scanners that are commonly found in hospitals and clinics worldwide. The aim of the current project is to demonstrate the clinical utility of ACT in combination with chemotherapy for treatment of various solid tumor diseases, to a stage where regulatory approval for a first indication can be sought.