A Medical Device Daily

IntraOp Medical (Sunnyvale, California), a provider of solutions for the treatment and eradication of cancer, said that its Mobetron device for Intraoperative Electron Radiation Therapy (IOERT) will be component in a new Chinese government initiative to combat lung cancer.

Mobetron is a mobile electron-beam instrument designed for IOERT, the direct application of radiation to a tumor while a patient is undergoing cancer surgery. It is the first fully portable, self-shielding intraoperative electron radiation therapy device designed for use in any operating room.

With more than 400,000 cases per year, lung cancer is by far China’s most prevalent cancer, IntraOp said. If left unchecked, experts estimate that within 10 years, more than half of the world’s lung cancer cases will occur in China.

The Cancer Institute and Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and the Peking Union Medical College (Beijing Tumor Hospital) has been designated by the Chinese Ministry of Health to become the research and development center for the treatment of lung cancer in China under the lung cancer initiative. Other institutions will focus on early diagnosis and prevention, the company said.

He Jie, MD, vice dean of the medical center and chief of thoracic surgery at the Cancer Institute and Hospital, was appointed by the Ministry of Health to lead the treatment and research efforts in combating lung cancer in China. Beijing Tumor Hospital conducts more than 1,200 surgeries for lung cancer each year and Dr. He is recognized as one of the world’s leading thoracic surgeons and researchers.

“We intend to use Mobetron and IOERT to provide a precise method of dose escalation for our surgical lung cancer patients,” said He. “In lung cancer, metastatic failure is still the major problem, but we have made significant advances in the chemotherapy that we can offer patients. To be successful in this disease, we also need to focus on improving local control which will, incidentally, also help reduce the formation of metastases.”

He added, “Because the thorax has many radiation-sensitive structures, escalating the dose to achieve local control of the tumor even through sophisticated radiation techniques available today, is not easy. IOERT escalates the dose at the time of surgery when residual tumor cells are most sensitive to destruction. This is where Mobetron can play a role.”

Working with Wang Liu-Hua, MD, professor and deputy director of radiation oncology at the cancer institute, protocols using IOERT will be developed for every stage of lung cancer in which surgery is employed.

When detected early, the current treatments for lung cancer can be effective and the patient’s prognosis is significantly better than when detected in the later stages of the disease. For example, patients with Stage I lung cancer have a 60% to 70% five-year survival, while those with more advanced Stage III disease have only a 15% five-year survival.

The Lung Cancer Initiative was inaugurated last month by Vice Minister of Health Huang Jiefu, MD, himself a surgeon, at a special symposium. Prominent lung cancer researchers and practitioners from throughout China came together to share their research, to discuss the status of lung cancer both in China and the rest of the world, and to suggest promising avenues of research for the treatment of the disease.

“This concerted effort by the Chinese government to establish a world-class lung cancer research and treatment facility can have widespread implications not only for lung cancer patients in China but for cancer patients throughout the world,” said Donald Goer, MD, president and CEO of IntraOp Medical. “Previous IOERT studies involving lung cancer have been limited in scope and involved relatively few patients. Though the published results were encouraging, some showing two or three times the five-year survival over that achieved with conventional approaches alone, it was difficult to draw definitive conclusions concerning the proper role of IOERT in the treatment of this disease. This initiative will finally give us the answers.”

Beijing Tumor Hospital is the teaching, research and treatment hospital of Beijing University Medical School , focusing on the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of cancer patients. With 400 beds, the institution treats 6,000 patients per year. In addition to a modern radiotherapy department, the center boasts one of the most advanced tumor molecular biology laboratories in the world.

Distribution agreement for ActiPatch

BioElectronics (Frederick, Maryland) has signed an agreement with Daisy Care Medical , a provider of healthcare products and services to practitioners in Egypt and Middle East, has agreed to sell and distribute ActiPatch, a drug-free, anti-inflammatory patch.

ActiPatch features an embedded, battery-operated microchip that delivers weeks of continuous pulsed electromagnetic therapy. The delivery system provides a patient-friendly method to reduce soft tissue pain and swelling, the company said.

BioElectronics President Andrew Whelan said, “We believe this distribution agreement creates a powerful relationship that will help us realize our vision of changing the way people heal worldwide. Daisy Care Medical’s distribution channels will play a critical role in accelerating our expansion and greatly expand the scope of our markets and the use of ActiPatch. This agreement is a strong endorsement of our technology and its many potential applications in the medical field.”

A Daisy Care official said the company believes that ActiPatch technology is a “unique product, with a great medical advantage to surgeons.” He said ActiPatch “meets a need, offers a cost savings to the customer, improves patient comfort, and increases the effectiveness of the physician’s work.”

Galil Medical eyes new financing

Elron Electronic Industries (Tel Aviv, Israel) said that Galil Medical , currently about 40% held by Elron directly and indirectly through its subsidiary, RDC-Rafael Development Corp. , has signed a detailed term sheet with new investors.

The new investors, led by U.S. venture capital funds Thomas, McNerney & Partners and The Vertical Group , will invest $40 million in Galil Medical. As part of and in addition to the financing round, about $4 million of existing shareholders loans will be converted into shares of Galil Medical. In addition, the new investors will purchase shares from certain existing shareholders of Galil Medical, including RDC, for some $8 million.

As a result of the transaction, if completed, Elron’s direct and indirect holding in Galil Medical will decrease to about 21%.

The completion of the transaction is subject to execution of definitive documentation and certain conditions and there is no assurance that the transaction will be completed, Elron said.

Galil Medical manufactures a cryotherapy platform incorporating powerful freezing technology and proprietary needle design for minimally invasive treatments for various clinical applications. Those cryotherapy systems have been used worldwide for the treatment of prostate and kidney cancer. The company’s next-generation systems are being developed for women’s health conditions and liver, lung and bone cancer.

BIO sets Asian conference

The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO; Washington) will host its fourth annual BIO-Asia Partnering Conference at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo, Jan. 29-30, 2007.

Keynote addresses will be delivered by Koichiro Aramaki, PhD, chairman and CEO of Kirin Brewery Co. Ltd. , and Anthony Rosenberg, head of global business development & licensing for Novartis Pharma AG .

“This conference is an opportunity to meet and network with the world’s leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies and the most promising emerging firms developing novel therapeutics at one place and time,” said Alan Eisenberg, executive vice president, emerging companies and business development at BIO.

The 2006 BIO-Asia meeting attracted 400 participants representing more than 200 companies and 22 countries around the world.