NeoCore Therapeutics: An Alternative Approach To Cancer

The ongoing goal to find a cure for cancer seems to be never ending. Although researchers and companies continue to spend countless hours and dollars, there are still only two treatment options for patients with prostate cancer - either cut out the tumor or undergo painful radiation. NeoCore Therapeutics, a startup out of MIT, hopes to provide a third alternative that is both less invasive and expensive. Their novel approach brings the potential to extend life while reducing pain.

Cutting the tumor out is risky and ultimately ends with a high rate of incontinence and impotence. Radiation on the other hand is both painful and unpleasant. NeoCore's approach is different because the operation closely resembles a simple injection. In laymen terms, their device essentially ejects a chemical into the localized part of the cancer and stunts the producing cancerous cells to substantially slow growth.

Although its not a cure, this is great news for older patients. The difficulty to determine whether or not a patient's cancer is an aggressive type forces most patients to undergo one of the two treatments above. In elderly patients, the cancer doesn't necessarily need to be cured, only slowed because they will inevitable die of some other disease. NeoCore's treatment is an alternative because it can slow growth and allow patients to avoid the downsides of the other options. Aaron Baker (A Postdoctoral Associate, MIT Health Science and Technology) and David Wu (A Pathology Fellow at the Brigham and Women's Hospital), whom I met with, give their scientific explanation below:

The OncoBeads technology combines the common antibiotic, Neomycin, with a local drug delivery polymer. Scientific studies from Dr. Guofu Hu's laboratory at Harvard Medical School have shown that Neomycin can inhibit tumor growth by directly blocking cancer proliferation and by blocking the formation of the tumor blood vessels. Our technology allows us to treat local cancers with a targeted therapy that minimizes the risk of side-effects to the patient in contrast to the nonspecific damage that occurs with other methods.

The business opportunity stems from providing urologist a new revenue stream. Patients who are diagnosed by the urologist have the decision between the treatment options. If the patient decides to go with radiation, then that patient is passed on to a radiation therapist and results in lost business to the urologist. But now, since the procedure is relatively simple, the urologist can offer it as another method to treat the patient.

The team is looking for their first round of funding that will be in the range of $1 million. If obtained, it will cover phase 1 to establish safety with 10 - 20 patients within the 1st year. Stages 2 and 3, which essentially extend from phase 1 with more testing could last any where from 2 to 5 years. The procedure already has a patent and has proven successful in studies with mice.

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