Sonrgy secures exclusive licence from UC San Diego
To commercialise nanotechnology cancer drug delivery system that uses ultrasound
Sonrgy, a US biotechnology company developing focused drug delivery technologies, has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with the University of California for the company's core technology, an ultrasound sensitive drug delivery platform.
The agreement grants the company the sole rights to develop and market the technology worldwide.
San Diego-based Sonrgy is developing a targeted chemotherapy delivery platform for treating cancer patients. The firm’s tiny nanocarriers safely transport potent chemotherapy drugs to cancer tumours and release high doses on command in response to a focused beam of ultrasound. These carriers deposit drugs directly at the tumour cell sites, avoiding the many side effects of toxic chemotherapy circulating in the blood stream.
Nanocarriers can deliver chemotherapy before surgery to reduce tumour size, after surgery to prevent recurrence, and in situations when surgery is not possible to arrest tumour growth. This approach can be applied to many cancer tumours and enables more intensive treatment of the cancer, potentially improving effectiveness while reducing harmful effects on the rest of the body.
'The SonRx technology addresses long-standing challenges related to stability and controlled release in nano-scale drug delivery,' said Michael Benchimol, Sonrgy's Chief Technology Officer. 'We are excited to initiate the next steps of its commercial development.'
The technology is based on research conducted in the lab of Professor Sadik Esener at the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Centre.
