Article preview from Start-Up - February, 2013
Pancreatic cancer is currently the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the US, and it is primarily treated with systemic drugs that have limited ability to penetrate the pancreas. RenovoRx Inc. has developed an endovascular catheter that enables targeted delivery of either diagnostic or therapeutic fluids directly to the pancreas.
Article preview from Start-Up - February, 2013
Pancreatic cancer is currently the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the US, accounting for 37,000 deaths annually. But by as early as 2015, it is expected to displace colon/rectal cancer and breast cancer to become the second leading cause, only to be surpassed by lung/bronchial cancer. Other cancers are increasingly being treated effectively, and the urgent need for treatment improvement in pancreatic cancer was acknowledged in January, when President Obama signed into law the defense bill, which had a measure attached to it requiring the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute to develop a plan, or scientific framework, for pancreatic cancer research.
Treatment options for pancreatic cancer (for which smoking is a major risk factor) and other pancreatic disorders are primarily systemic therapeutic agents. These therapies have limited penetration into the pancreas and are generally associated with major adverse side effects, especially to the gastrointestinal and renal systems. Moreover, the disease is diagnosed generally at an advanced stage, making surgical resection of the tumor indicated in less than 20% of cases.
RenovoRx Inc. has developed an endovascular catheter that enables targeted delivery of either diagnostic or therapeutic fluids directly to the pancreas. A specially designed catheter tip with expandable balloons isolates the area of infusion. This technology may be used to deliver to the pancreas both established and new agents, such as those developed to combat pancreatic cancer’s single-digit overall survival rate.
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