NIH Awards Thermedical $3 Million for Cancer Therapy Testing

Thermedical, a privately held company currently developing a proprietary ablation therapy for the treatment of cancer, announced today that it has received a $3 million Competing Phase 2 Renewal Grant from the National Cancer Institute. The three-year grant will fund continued development and testing of the company’s Saline Enhanced Radiofrequency Ablation (SERF) system, which is designed for use in ablation of malignant tumors.

“The funding from the National Cancer Institute will allow us to assess whether SERF Ablation is useful for treating solid tissue in general, and to pursue investigation for ablation of liver cancer in particular,” said Michael G. Curley, Ph.D., founder of Thermedical and principal investigator on the project.

“Physicians have continuously called for techniques that can reliably heat large volumes of tissue in an effort to improve the outcomes for liver cancer patients,” continued Dr. Curley. “In our previously funded Phase 2 Grant, we demonstrated that SERF ablation can heat 8-cm volumes of tissue in less than five minutes. The next phase of research is designed to evaluate whether, by ablating large tissue volumes, SERF Ablation can provide effective ablation of liver cancer.”

According to the American Cancer Society, more than 145,000 new cases of colorectal cancer are diagnosed each year in the United States and half of these will develop metastases to the liver. Liver cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, and the prognosis for liver cancer patients is poor — 90 percent die within five years of diagnosis.

SERF Ablation uses radiofrequency (RF) electrical energy to overheat, and as a result, kill solid tumor tissue. The energy is delivered by a needle that simultaneously injects warm saline into the tumor. The saline alters the physics of energy delivery through the tissue, potentially allowing treatment of much larger tumors than can presently be treated using RF alone.

The proceeds from the grant will initially be used to apply for U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for ablation of solid tissue in 2007. A multi-institutional clinical trial for ablation of liver cancer will follow, led by Steven Curley, M.D. (no relation), professor of surgery and chief, gastrointestinal tumor surgery, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston. The trial will also be carried out by Kelly M. McMasters, M.D., chair, Department of Surgery, University of Louisville, Louisville, Ky., as well as Syed A. Ahmad, M.D., assistant professor of surgery, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, and Carlton C. Barnett, Jr., M.D., assistant professor of surgical oncology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas.

About Thermedical

Based in Somerville, Mass., Thermedical is a privately held company that is currently a division of E.P. Limited, founded by Dr. Curley and Patrick S. Hamilton, Ph.D. Under multiple NIH Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants, the company is developing thermal therapies for difficult-to-treat cancers, such as liver cancer, and for difficult-to-treat cardiac arrhythmias such as ventricular tachycardia. For more information, visit http://www.thermedical.com.

 Media and Investor Contact: Amy Cook For Thermedical 925.552.789 Contact via http://www.marketwire.com/mw/emailprcntct?id=401E23A9B051BE7D  Thermedical 35 Medford Street, Suite 204 Somerville, MA 02143 617.623.3157  

SOURCE: Thermedical