Non-Invasive Delivery of Oncolytic Viruses Using Focused Ultrasound

Background & Unmet Need

• Malignant tumors of the brain have an approximate annual incidence of 25 K cases and 33% 5-year survival rate
• Current therapies largely involve surgical resection and adjuvant chemoradiation, which often fail to deliver long-term patient survival
• Oncolytic viruses (OVs) have emerged as a promising new therapeutic platform for selective ablation of tumor cells
• However, development of OVs to treat brain tumors is challenging due to the blood-brain barrier (BBB), and thus typically requires direct surgical injection
• Unmet Need: Methods for non-invasive delivery of oncolytic viruses to the brain

Technology Overview

• The Technology: Method for delivering oncolytic viruses to the brain using focused ultrasound
• Unlike direct injection, this approach is non-invasive and enables finer control over therapeutic delivery
• PoC Data: Rats treated with single or repeat sessions of FUS-mediated OV therapy showed efficient therapy transduction and no evidence of brain injury or systemic illness
• The OVs may be genetically modified to express immunomodulators, such as IL-12, to enhance the therapeutic effect

Technology Applications

• Treatment of primary or metastatic brain tumors such as glioblastoma
• Prevention of disease recurrence via multiple non-invasive therapy sessions

Technology Advantages

• Non-invasive targeted delivery of OV therapy limits damage to the surrounding tissue
• Feasible treatment option following surgical tumor resection
• OVs may be genetically modified to stimulate the immune system to attack tumor cells