glioblastoma Archives - Medical Design Sourcing

Leveraging biophysics to fight the most aggressive forms of cancer

Novocure developed the Optune wearable device to deliver Tumor Treating Fields, electric fields that slow or stop cancer cells from dividing. [Photo courtesy of Novocure]

An innovative device harnesses the power of electric fields to disrupt solid tumor cell division.

By Bill Doyle, Novocure

For more than 20 years, Novocure has been at the forefront of innovation, pioneering biophysical cancer treatments. With the invention and development of Tumor Treating Fields therapy, Novocure is striving to extend survival in some of the most aggressive forms of cancer.

In modern medicine, cancer treatment has relied on combinations of surgery, ionizing radiation, and drugs — each of which can come with challenging side effects. In 2011, the FDA approved a first-of-its-kind medical device for recurrent glioblastoma that changed cancer therapy expectations with its novel mechanism of action for killing cancer ce…

Federated learning pact between Penn Medicine and Intel boosted glioblastoma detection capabilities

[Image courtesy of Intel]

A research alliance between Penn Medicine and Intel aggregated data from 6,314 glioblastoma (GBM) patients at 71 sites across six continents over three years.

The study made use of federated learning – a distributed machine learning (ML) approach – to facilitate the identification of malignant brain tumors without compromising patient privacy.

The research led to a 33% improved capability to detect brain tumors compared to an AI model trained on public data. Specifically, the federated learning approach led to improved identification and prediction of boundaries in three tumor sub-compartments.

The largest medical federated learning study

The Federated Tumor Segmentation Project was the industry’s largest and most diverse medical federated learning study using federated learning to detect malignant brain tumors.

The data from the research effort were published…

Black Diamond Therapeutics doses first patient in Phase 1 study focused on non-small cell lung cancer NSCLC and glioblastoma

Black Diamond Therapeutics (Nasdaq: BDTX) has announced that it has dosed the first patient in the Phase 1 study focused on BDTX-1535.

BDTX-1535 is a MasterKey inhibitor of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) to potentially treat non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and glioblastoma (GBM).

Cambridge, Massachusetts–based Black Diamond believes BDTX-1535 holds significant potential for EGFR-mutant NSCLC and GBM.

“This is the second MasterKey inhibitor derived from our MAP drug discovery engine; we are incredibly excited about BDTX-1535’s advancement into the clinic, and we look forward to providing a clinical update in the second half of 2023,” said David M. Epstein, CEO of Black Diamond Therapeutics.

“Despite recent successes in targeting EGFR-mutated NSCLC, there is still a need for better therapeutics for patients with disease progression following first-line EGFR inhibitors,” said Dr. Melissa Johnson, director of lung cancer research for Sara…

Mustang Bio launches clinical study combining CAR T cells and oncolytic virus to treat glioblastoma

The cell and gene therapy company Mustang Bio (Nasdaq:MBIO) will initiate a Phase 1 clinical trial combining CAR T cells and oncolytic virus as a potential therapy for recurrent glioblastoma.

The prognosis for glioblastoma is generally poor with approximately 40% survival in the first year following diagnosis, according to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons.

The Worcester, Massachusetts–based company made the announcement after reviewing interim data from two ongoing investigator-sponsored Phase 1 clinical studies testing MB-108 (C134 oncolytic virus) and MB‐101 (City of Hope’s IL13Rα2‐targeted CAR T cell therapy).

Mustang Bio recently shared data supporting the safety of administering MB-108 and MB-101 sequentially in a regimen designated as MB-109 at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2022.

“The data presented at the AACR Annual Meeting support the initiation of a Phase 1 clinical trial to evaluate …

Ivy Brain Tumor Center sees promise in sonodynamic therapy for glioblastoma

Ivy Brain Tumor Center and its partner Sonalasense have announced positive initial results in a first-in-human Phase 0/1 clinical trial involving recurrent glioblastoma patients.

Sonalasense has developed a noninvasive sonodynamic therapy (SDT) that pairs low-intensity ultrasound with chemotherapeutic agents known as sonosensitizers. The therapy is noninvasive.

Data from the trial indicate that SDT swiftly causes targeted oxidative stress and cell death in human glioblastoma tissue. In addition, the therapy was well tolerated in the study.

Get the full story from our sister site, Drug Discovery & Development.

Ivy Brain Tumor Center sees promise in sonodynamic therapy for glioblastoma

Ivy Brain Tumor Center and its partner Sonalasense have announced positive initial results in a first-in-human Phase 0/1 clinical trial involving recurrent glioblastoma patients.

Sonalasense has developed a noninvasive sonodynamic therapy (SDT) that pairs low-intensity ultrasound with chemotherapeutic agents known as sonosensitizers. The therapy is noninvasive.

Data from the trial indicate that SDT swiftly causes targeted oxidative stress and cell death in human glioblastoma tissue. In addition, the therapy was well tolerated in the study.

The Ivy Brain Tumor Center is using MRI-guided focused ultrasound in conjunction with Sonalasense’s 5-aminolevulinic acid (SONALA-001) to investigate the treatment. Investigators administered 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) intravenously, which then crosses the blood-brain barrier to enter the brain. Once in the brain, ALA targets glioma cells, which are abnormally metabolically active.

The study used intravenous am…

San Diego company aiming to target glioblastoma with nanotechnology-based approach

Intermediate magnification micrograph of a glioblastoma. HPS stain image courtesy of Wikimedia.

The emerging biopharmaceutical company Global Cancer Technology (GCT; San Diego) is developing a novel x-ray activated therapy to treat glioblastoma, which remains stubbornly difficult to treat.

GCT has a licensing agreement with the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) for a drug delivery platform that unites a nanocrystal to a prodrug that can be activated using radiosurgery. GCT has also acquired two patents for investigational drugs that can cross the blood-brain barrier. One is an inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), a type of enzyme involved in several cellular functions that facilitates rapid growth in glioblastoma. The other compound targets Vps34, a phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase. Both compounds modulate autophagy, a regenerative cellular process. According to UCSD researchers, autophag…