Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have devised a biomarker panel that could enable earlier diagnosis and better treatment for patients with pancreatic cancer, according to a study published in Science Translational Medicine. Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the U.S., the team reported, and often patients are not diagnosed until […]
Oncology
Study: Nanomedicine shuts down cells that drive cancer growth in glioblastoma
Researchers from Northwestern Medicine have developed lipid polymer-based nanoparticles that target key cancer drivers, called brain tumor initiating cells, in a mouse model of glioblastoma brain tumors. “BTICs are malignant brain tumor populations that underlie the therapy resistance, recurrence and unstoppable invasion commonly encountered by glioblastoma patients after the standard treatment regimen of surgical resection, […]
Equashield seeks to automate hazardous drug handling: a Drug Delivery Business News podcast
Equashield’s Jason Dutcher chats with Drug Delivery Business News editor Sarah Faulkner about the company’s closed system transfer device and its latest move to automate hazardous drug compounding. Healthcare workers are often tasked with handling hazardous drugs, which give off harmful vapors. Exposure to these drugs has been linked to severe health risks, including infertility, […]
Pacira halts DepoCyt production over manufacturing issue
Pacira Pharmaceuticals (NSDQ:PCRX) said late last month that it plans to stop producing its liposomal chemotherapeutic due to “persistent technical issues specific to the DepoCyt(e) manufacturing process.” In a regulatory note filed to the SEC, the N.J.-based company said it expects a charge of $5 million thanks to the discontinuation, including $500,000 related to employee lay-offs. […]
Delcath raises $2m in Series B stock sale
Delcath Systems (NSDQ:DCTH) has raised $2 million after selling 2,360 shares of Series B preferred stock at $1,000 per share to unnamed institutional investors, according to a regulatory filing. The company wrote that it plans to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes. Delcath is developing a system for liver-directed high dose chemotherapy, which involves a […]
‘Nanolock’ could help diagnose and treat cancer with individualized therapies
In a study published in ACS Sensors, a team of researchers described how they develop a method to recognize a particular mutation in the genetic code of a cancerous cell. If cancers are caught early enough in the cell mutation process, many of them can be stopped with chemotherapy and other forms of treatment. This new […]
Medtech stories we missed this week: June 30, 2017
From ConforMIS touting its knee replacement study to Consulting Radiologists’s new breast cancer detection tool, here are seven medtech stories we missed this week but thought were still worth mentioning. 1. Study: Low-dose CT scanning improves Ankylosing Spondylitis assessment A new study has shown that low-dose computed tomography (LD-CT) is more sensitive than X-rays for monitoring […]
Augmenix debuts SpaceOar in Israel
Augmenix Inc. said this week that it launched its SpaceOar hydrogel device in Israel. The Bedford, Mass.-based company’s absorbable prostate-rectum spacer is designed to reduce rectal injury during prostate radiotherapy. “We are excited to offer our patients this new, innovative technology to significantly reduce risks of prostate cancer radiotherapy,” Dr. Zvi Symon, from the Chaim […]
MetaStat lands $7m for personalized cancer diagnostic, therapy tech
MetaStat (OTC:MTST) said this week that it closed the 1st tranche of a $7 million private placement. The round, which was led by Perceptive Advisors, is slated to bring in approximately $2.1 million, according to the Boston-based company. The private placement consisted of an aggregate of 690,816 shares of common stock and 196,216 shares of […]
Plant-virus nanoparticles combined with chemo delays tumor progression
Researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine and RWTH Aachen University have demonstrated that injecting nanoscale potato-virus particles and doxorubicin into melanoma tumors slows tumor progression in mice. The team’s work was published in Nano Letters. Although simultaneous injection of the virus particles and a chemo drug prompted a […]