Under the terms of the agreement, Philips and Celsion will collaborate to explore the potential for using Philips’s investigational magnetic resonance imaging-guided high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) system in combination with Celsion’s leading drug candidate, ThermoDox, to treat a broad range of cancers.
By using Philips’s HIFU technology to deliver targeted, localized activation temperatures, Philips’s and Celsion’s research will explore the potential for ThermoDox to non-invasively treat a number of solid tumor cancers that may be susceptible to the combination of a high concentration of doxorubicin and concurrent hyperthermia.
Philips and Celsion are conducting research to test two premises. First, ThermoDox has the potential to eliminate cancer cells that may otherwise remain viable and be responsible for secondary tumors by using HIFU to aid in releasing the concentrated drug within and around the margins of the heated area.
Second, using HIFU in the low temperature activation mode in combination with ThermoDox has the potential to provide a means to deliver high concentrations of chemotherapeutics to multiple sites at virtually any location in the body.
The research uses the HIFU system to position doxorubicin, an approved and frequently used anticancer drug, and to create a mild hyperthermia that releases the drug directly into the tumor. The result would be the ability to treat tumors that would otherwise be inaccessible, the two companies said.