Healthcare Industry News: liver tumor
News Release - October 3, 2006
Pathfinder Therapeutics, Inc Receives $1.9 million Grant from National Cancer Institute
NASHVILLE, TN --(HSMN NewsFeed)--Pathfinder Therapeutics, Inc. (PTI), a developer of image-guided liver surgery technology, today announced that it has received a Notice of Grant Award for a $1.9 million project entitled "Commercialization of Image-Guided Liver Surgery".The purpose of this Fast Track Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Cancer Institute will be to conduct a two-phase clinical trial using the specialized Orion software program in conjunction with a liver surgery navigation system at three hospitals in the United States. Paul MacDonald, CEO of PTI, commented that "the purpose of this clinical trial will be to determine the extent to which PTI’s investigational technology can help reduce blood loss, reduce operating room time and remove only the necessary amount of liver tissue. If we prove these outcomes then we fulfill our mission of helping liver cancer patients. The results will also be of interest to liver surgeons and surgical oncologists who value evidence-based medicine." The clinical trial will enroll patients who require surgery to remove hepatocellular carcinoma. Medical studies have demonstrated that surgical removal of liver tumors is the best chance for patient survival.
PTI’s image-guided liver surgery technology is not approved by the FDA. To date, it has been evaluated under Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval at two hospitals in over 20 human patients. Dr. James Stefansic from PTI will be the primary investigator for the clinical trial, continuing his involvement with the core technology developed over the last ten years at Vanderbilt University. Pathfinder Therapeutics Inc. was incorporated in 2004 by a group of researchers and surgeons from Vanderbilt and is working towards commercializing the technology in the near future.
Source: Pathfinder Therapeutics
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