Sono Membrane Rupture Therapy

Background & Unmet Need

• Tumor ablation is a minimally-invasive procedure in which cancerous tissue is killed via exposure to extreme heat or cold
• However, the high energy particles which are typically used to kill tumor cells can cause severe side effects due to damage to nearby tissues
• Moreover, thermal heat sources like radiofrequency (RF) or high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) are attenuated near blood vessels, where the convective cooling of blood flow reduces their efficacy
• Cancer cells left near blood vessels from thermal ablation may in turn cause aggressive tumor recurrence
• Unmet Need: An effective, low energy, non-thermal tumor ablation method

Technology Overview

• The Technology: A new type of sonoexcitable drug that can be paired with low intensity ultrasound for tumor ablation
• The Discovery: A derivative of Rose Bengal, RB-4, was identified to have low-intensity, ultrasound-inducible cell killing capability
• RB4 appears to act as a membrane destabilizer and induces a complete loss of membrane integrity when combined with ultrasound
• PoC Data: RB4 and ultrasound in combination killed 90% of cells in a TNBC line, compared to less than 20% of cells killed by either treatment alone
• Experiments in TNBC xenograft models showed that the average size of the RB4/ultrasound treated tumors were only 20% of that of the control tumor

Technology Applications

• A safe alternative to current high-energy tumor ablation technology
• An alternative to other high-energy ablation procedures such as cardiac ablation

Technology Advantages

• Applied ultrasound is safe and not harmful to tissues
• RB4 is less likely to develop drug resistance issues as membranes are less prone to mutation