An injectable and programmable drug-eluting embolic device

Introduction

This project aims to develop a novel platform for drug delivery and treatment for liver cancers. A first-of-its-kind two-step acting platform is described in detail, depicting an early step of drug elution to viable tissue (in contrast to acute embolism) followed by a later stage of vessel blockage to induce tissue necrosis.

Concept Overview

Inspired by the coronary drug-eluting stent concept, we will introduce a novel porous degradable bead referred to as EmboPore, used as “mini-stents.” These mini-stents can elute drugs for a predetermined time and collapse at the end of the drug treatment period to embolize the tissue.

Two-Step Mechanism

1. Drug Elution: The first step ensures that a proper and massive drug perfusion will be performed prior to occlusion of the blood vessel.
2. Vessel Blockage: The later stage involves vessel blockage to induce tumor necrosis.

Advantages

Another important advantage of the gradual blockage is the reduction of the secreted adverse pro-cancer stress signals that occur in the acute embolism procedure.

Design Features

The product is designed to be biodegradable and injectable to fit the current catheters used in standard clinical procedures.

Expected Outcomes

Such a product is expected to substantially improve the relatively modest clinical outcomes of embolic devices and possibly open new indications such as:

• Metastatic liver diseases
• Gastrointestinal diseases
• More