Actium Cancer Treatment (ACT) platform’s controlled heat (hyperthermia) has the potential to substantially increase the efficacy of chemotherapy and radiation First application: non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC)
BOULDER, Colo., April 29, 2013—Actium Biosystems announced today that it has appointed distinguished pharmaceutical scientist Jessie L.-S. Au, Pharm.D., Ph.D., to its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). Dr. Au recently resigned her position as Distinguished Professor in the School of Pharmacy at The Ohio State University and is currently an independent cancer research scientist and consultant. Dr. Au performed some of the definitive work on the optimization of mytomycin C chemotherapy for the treatment of NMIBC and is considered a senior authority on the pharmacology of drug action and distribution within cancer tumors. During her career she has been one of the top recipients of NIH grants with a career total of $140 million and is currently the Principle Investigator for over $5 million in NIH grants on various cancer research topics. Dr. Au is widely published with 153 peer-reviewed articles.
In addition to Dr. Au, Actium’s Scientific Advisory Board includes: Bruce F. Mackler, Ph.D.; Edward M. Messing, M.D.; Michael O’Donnell, M.D.; Craig S. Rosenfeld, M.D.; and Richard Willson, Ph.D.
“We are extremely pleased to have Dr. Au join the Actium SAB. Her credentials are extraordinary. Dr. Au has served on numerous NIH and FDA Committees, is on the Editorial Board of Pharmaceutical Research, and is scientific advisor to several leading academic cancer centers,” said Joe Tondu, CEO of Actium Biosystems.
“There is a significant unmet clinical need for treating bladder cancer, which recurs in about three out of five patients within two years and has not had an improvement in treatment in over 30 years,” added Tondu. “Since the 1990s studies have demonstrated that adding hyperthermia to standard intravesical chemotherapy treatment of NMIBC, the most common form of bladder cancer, significantly reduces the recurrence rate. The problem has been the lack of an acceptable technology to deliver hyperthermia. Our ACT System has been designed to solve that problem. Using advanced nanotechnology and electromagnetics, the ACT System is designed to deliver the highly controlled and precise temperature needed to boost the efficacy of traditional cancer treatments.”
Actium’s novel system platform, Actium Cancer Treatment or ACT, for selectively delivering controlled hyperthermia, has been validated via in vivo studies by two independent authorities, including Duke University Medical Center and a contract research facility. Actium is in the midst of preparing for safety and pharmacokinetic studies to support an application to the FDA for permission to commence Phase I First-in-Human clinical studies as soon as possible.
About Hyperthermia and Actium Cancer Treatment (ACT) System
Hyperthermia is the targeted application of elevated temperatures in cancerous regions to improve the efficacy of traditional treatments including chemotherapy. While hyperthermia is applicable to many cancer types, the first indication being developed by Actium is non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. In concert with standard chemotherapy, the ACT System is designed to elevate the cancerous region temperature a few degrees above body ambient temperature. The ACT System generates safe hyperthermia by first delivering Iron oxide nanoparticles in a ferrofluid solution combined with a standard chemotherapeutic drug via a catheter to the bladder. The bladder is then exposed to a harmless externally generated alternating current magnetic field that excites the nanoparticles, causing particle rotation and magnetic domain realignment, both generating heat. A proprietary computer program using a real time temperature control feedback loop precisely regulates the heat. Heating the bladder by only a few degrees Centigrade opens up pathways that increase the delivery of drugs to the tumor. Studies have shown the addition of hyperthermia with standard intravesical chemotherapy increases drug delivery to bladder cancer by as much as 400% with no toxic systemic impact.
CAUTION: The ACT System is not approved for sale in the United States.
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