Oncology drug developer Celsion has signed an agreement with the University of Oxford, U.K., relating to the development of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) activation of its ThermaDox drug for metastatic liver cancer.
The early-phase clinical study will examine the use of HIFU to activate ThermaDox, which is a heat-activated liposomal encapsulation of doxorubicin. The trial will aim to demonstrate that ultrasound-induced hyperthermia can enable the highly targeted delivery of chemotherapeutic agents to tumors noninvasively.
Treatment of the first patient is expected to begin in 2012.
