Rafiq Hasan has been appointed CEO of EXACT Therapeutics, a Norwegian company with a new technology that can enhance the effect of chemotherapy.

Combating cancer with ultrasound

CEO Rafiq Hasan, EXACT Therapeutics

Our member EXACT Therapeutics gains pharma veteran Rafiq Hasan as CEO, reveals company name change and reports strong progress in first clinical trial.

Our member EXACT Therapeutics, formerly known as Phoenix Solutions, is a Norwegian biotech company developing an innovative platform technology that enables precision therapeutic targeting using ultrasound, with an initial focus in oncology.

The method is called Acoustic Cluster Therapy (ACT®) and has potential utility across multiple therapeutic areas. In oncology, the effect of chemotherapy is amplified through biomechanical effects induced by ultrasound insonation of microbubbles transiently trapped in the microvasculature.

In other words, ACT® is a method to enhance the delivery of chemotherapy with greater precision exactly to the target site of action. Patients receive an intravenous injection of ACT® comprising microbubbles and microdroplets, which are activated at the location of the tumour using conventional diagnostic ultrasound. This creates large bubbles that apply transient and controlled pressure to the vascular wall enabling greater extravasation of the co-administered chemotherapeutic. In essence, this means that more chemotherapy is “pumped” into the tumour. The potential is that chemotherapy can achieve greater therapeutic efficacy using standard of care chemotherapy, resulting in better clinical outcomes for patients living with cancer.

Watch the video below to learn more about the technology in detail.

Pharma veteran appointed CEO

EXACT Therapeutics recently appointed Rafiq Hasan as CEO to lead the company on its journey to commercialise ACT. Rafiq Hasan is a seasoned veteran of the pharma business and has held several top positions in Bayer and Novartis.

Dr Hasan commented: “There has been tremendous progress in the last 8 years within the field of microbubbles and sonoporation, driven forward by ACT® and EXACT Therapeutics. Through its targeted delivery, ACT® has the potential to enhance therapeutic efficacy of a multitude of products across numerous therapeutic areas. This exciting science with the potential to have a transformative impact on medicine and patients, and I could not pass up this opportunity to lead EXACT Therapeutics into its next phase. I am impressed with the preclinical data where ACT® shows efficacy across a range of drugs and disease models, whilst the clinical development is already underway with the Royal Marsden Hospital/the Institute of Cancer Research.”

Clinical trial ongoing

EXACT Therapeutics is now reporting strong progress in an ongoing clinical trial, which started at the Royal Marsden Hospital in September 2019. The clinical trial is investigating ACT® in combination with standard of care chemotherapy for treating colorectal and pancreatic cancers.

Watch the video from BBC News of the first patient to test the new treatment.

Visit the original homepage to learn more about EXACT Therapeutics.

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