Skip to main content
Press Releases

OncoNano Announces Completion of Phase 1a Study and Expands into Phase 1b for Intraoperative Imaging Agent to Detect Tumors and Metastatic Lymph Nodes That Often Go Undetected During Surgery

Results Selected for Poster presentation at San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium

SOUTHLAKE, TX. –December 5, 2018 – OncoNano Medicine, Inc. today announced the completion of its Phase 1a clinical trial and expansion into Phase 1b to evaluate ONM-100, the intravenously administered imaging agent to detect tumors and metastatic lymph nodes in solid cancers during surgery. The results of Phase 1a will be included in a poster presentation at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium being held on December 4-8, 2018.

The trial is being conducted at Tracer Center of Expertise, University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) in Groningen, The Netherlands with Professor Go van Dam as the Principal Investigator. The Phase 1b portion of the study is currently enrolling patients and is an expansion phase at the highest dose tested in Phase 1a. In addition to testing for breast cancer and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) which were studied in Phase 1a, Phase 1b includes patients with colorectal and esophageal cancers.

Surgery remains the standard treatment for most solid tumors today, with postoperative margin status and tumors left behind being the leading prognostic factor to predict tumor metastasis and potential recurrence. Despite tremendous advances in imaging modalities, current techniques do not provide real-time feedback and surgeons must rely upon preoperative imaging data with visual information during surgery. ONM-100 targets the acidic pH environment within tumors, potentially providing surgeons with a method to assess lymph nodes and tumor margins in real-time. ONM-100 features a digital on-off response to pH changes – switching on in the tumor’s acidic environment and remaining off in blood circulation and normal cells.

“OncoNano’s intraoperative imaging agent appears to provide surgeons with the ability to see tumors that might have otherwise been missed, potentially resulting in more targeted treatment plans and enhanced patient management,” said Ravi Srinivasan, Ph.D, founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of OncoNano. “We are buoyed by the results of Phase 1a where tumors were detected that had previously been undetected by standard of care preoperative methods and by the surgeon or the pathologist, and we look forward to continuing this important trial.”

The poster (Program Number: P2-14-29), “Image guided surgery for tumor detection in breast cancer using the PH activated micellar imaging agent ONM-100: The SHINE study” will be presented on Thursday 12/6/2018, Session: Treatment – Surgery; Session time: 7:30 am – 9:00 am.

About OncoNano Medicine

OncoNano Medicine is developing a new class of pH-activated compounds that digitalize and exploit the variability of pH in disease. pH variability is a proven, simple and effective identifier of diseased tissue and provides a foundation for the development of a broad range of highly targeted therapeutics and imaging agents. OncoNano is the first company to advance product candidates using pH as a biomarker for cancer immunotherapy, therapeutic use and intraoperative imaging based on its pH-sensitive micelle technology.

Contacts

MacDougall Biomedical Communications
Lauren Arnold, 781-235-3060
larnold@macbiocom.com