Back to search

BIA-Brukerstyrt innovasjonsarena

Enhancing immune response in solid tumours with Acoustic Cluster Therapy (ACT®)

Alternative title: Forbedrer immunresponsen i solide svulster med Acoustic Cluster Therapy (ACT®)

Awarded: NOK 16.0 mill.

The project aims to increase the therapeutic efficacy of immunotherapy for the treatment of solid cancers using Acoustic Cluster Therapy (ACT®) in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors. ACT® is a novel platform for ultrasound mediated, targeted drug delivery, holding significant potential to enhance the effect of a range of therapeutic agents. ACT® has been evaluated in combination with standard of care chemotherapeutics and pre-clinical development within this segment has shown a remarkable increase in the therapeutic efficacy. ACT® is currently in clinical development in combination with standard of care chemotherapy for the treatment of hepatic metastases from colorectal cancer. Immunotherapy, in particular checkpoint inhibitors are emerging as ground-breaking cancer treatment, but efficacy is often hampered by insufficient delivery to the target tissue. Therefore, novel drug delivery systems such as ACT® are of great interest. The mechanism of action of checkpoint inhibitors differs from chemotherapeutics and pre-clinical proof of synergies is needed prior to evaluating clinical development of ACT® within the immunotherapy segment. The goal of the pre-clinical part of the project is to demonstrate pre-clinical proof of concept for PD-1 treatment for three different solid tumours. The final goal of the project will be to initiate clinical development within the immune-oncology segment. To execute the program EXACT Therapeutics AS has partnered with three renowned pre-clinical groups at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)(Norway), Institute of Cancer Research (ICR)/ Royal Marsden Hospital (UK) and Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen)(USA).

The projects aim is pre-clinical development of Acoustic Cluster Therapy (ACT®) combined with immune-oncology (IO) agents (checkpoint inhibitors - PD-1) for treatment of solid cancers. ACT® is a novel technology platform for ultrasound mediated, targeted drug delivery, offering a number of unique attributes compared to current standard of care approaches, therefore holding a significant potential for solving major healthcare challenges. ACT® has been evaluated in combination with standard of care chemotherapeutic agents and pre-clinical development within this segment has shown a remarkable increase in the therapeutic efficacy of this class of cancer drugs. ACT® is currently in clinical development in combination with Standard of Care chemotherapy for treatment of hepatic metastases from colon cancer. IO-agents, checkpoint inhibitors in particular, represent an emerging and important class of cancer drugs, but efficacy is hampered by insufficient delivery to the target tissue. Novel drug delivery systems are therefore of great impact. The mechanism of action for IO-agents differ significantly from regular chemotherapeutics and comprehensive pre-clinical development and proof of synergies is needed prior to evaluating clinical development of ACT® within the IO segment. The project comprises six pre-clinical work packages investigating PD-1 for treatment of liver cancer, colon and pancreatic cancer. The primary objective is to demonstrate pre-clinical proof of concept for treatment of one or more of these diseases. The project end point represents a milestone (work package 7) where EXACT Therapeutics AS will start planning for clinical development within the immune-oncology segment. To execute the program EXACT has partnered with three renowned pre-clinical groups at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)(Norway), Institute of Cancer Research (ICR)/ Royal Marsden Hospital (UK) and Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen)(USA).

Funding scheme:

BIA-Brukerstyrt innovasjonsarena