Technologies
This technology is a therapeutic strategy for treating brain tumors by using chronic convection-enhanced delivery (CCED) to administer a synergistic combination of topotecan and dexamethasone directly into the brain.
Systemic chemotherapy for brain tumors is often ineffective due to the blood-brain barrier and can cause significant toxicity. Although local drug delivery can bypass this barrier, existing convection-enhanced delivery methods rely on external catheters. The risk of infection or inflammation during the process of catheter insertion limits treatment to a single, short-duration infusion. These challenges prevent the sustained, high-concentration, and repeatable drug administration required to effectively treat aggressive brain cancers like glioblastoma.
This strategy utilizes a subcutaneously implantable pump-catheter system for chronic convection-enhanced delivery (CCED) to infuse the chemotherapy drug topotecan in combination with the anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone directly to the tumor site. This approach bypasses the blood-brain barrier, allowing for repeated, extended infusions that achieve significantly higher drug concentrations at the tumor while avoiding systemic toxicity. The local co-administration of these two agents leads to more effective killing of tumor cells while simultaneously reducing treatment-induced inflammation.
This therapeutic strategy has demonstrated efficacy in preclinical brain tumor animal models. The underlying chronic delivery system has been validated for safety and efficacy in large animal models and has been successfully used in a Phase 1b clinical trial to deliver topotecan to patients with recurrent glioblastoma.
Patent Pending
IR CU25031
Licensing Contact: Jerry Kokoshka