Robotic surgery giant Intuitive Surgical (NSDQ:ISRG) said today it inked a joint venture deal with Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (SHA:600196) to research, develop, manufacture and sell robotic-assisted catheter-based medical devices. Both companies will contribute $100 million to start the joint venture, which will initially focus on development of early diagnostics and cost-effective treatments for lung cancer, one […]
Oncology
ScandiDos launches non-extrapolated radiation dose monitor
ScandiDos this week unveiled its non-extrapolated radiation dose monitor, Delta4 Synthesis, touting the accuracy of the device. The announcement was made at the 58th annual ASTRO meeting this week in Boston. The Uppsala, Sweden-based company integrated the Delta4 Phantom and Delta4 Discover into 1 system, creating the 1st and only quality assurance device that provides exact measurements, […]
Mevion touts new proton therapy tech
Mevion Medical Systems announced its latest development in proton therapy, touting improvements that could allow its Hyperscan system to treat tumors other proton therapy systems cannot. The announcement was made at the 58th annual ASTRO meeting this week in Boston. CEO Joseph Jachinowski told MassDevice.com that the Littleton, Mass.-based company’s Hyperscan system is now integrated with the Adaptive […]
IsoRay settles class action shareholders suit for $3.5m
IsoRay (NYSE:ISR) said it inked a $3.5 million settlement deal related to a class action suit brought against it by shareholders in June. The Richland, Wash.-based company is facing putative class-action lawsuits from investors, accusing the company of making false or misleading statements about a clinical trial of its Cesium 131 brachytherapy seeds designed to treat cancer in a press release […]
Elekta touts MR-imaging radiotherapy combo at ASTRO
Richard Hausmann built his career on the physics of imaging – he spent 23 years at Siemens (NYSE:SI) and 4 years at GE (NYSE:GE) developing the magnetic resonance and computerized tomography businesses before joining Elekta (STO:EKTA B) as president & CEO in June 2016. Hausmann told MassDevice.com yesterday that Elekta’s new MR-linac system, which combines MR imaging […]
Accuray touts 5-year CyberKnife data in prostate cancer trial
Accuray (NSDQ:ARAY) today released 5-year data from a study of its CyberKnife stereotactic body radiotherapy device for treating prostate cancer, touting a 97% rate of freedom from cancer at 5 years. Results from the study were presented at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology & Oncology’s annual meeting in Boston. The 21-site, 309-patient trial looked to examine […]
Navidea reels in $1m in Lymphoseek milestone payments
Navidea (NYSE:NAVB) said today it is set to receive $1 million from 2 milestone payments for its Lymphoseek injection designed for lymph nodes detection. The milestone payments come from from its U.S. distribution partner Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) and European partner SpePharm AG, the Dublin, Ohio-based company said. The payment from Cardinal Health is based on the sale of […]
Evaluating FDA’s approach to cancer clinical trials
By: Richard Pazdur, M.D. Since the announcement of the FDA Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE) two months ago (June 29, 2016) as part of the White House’s Cancer Moonshot, we’ve been working to further FDA’s efforts to get new oncology products into the hands of patients. We are committed to meet the needs of patients […]
CivaTech wins $2.3m NIH grant for CivaSheet study
CivaTech Oncology Inc. said this week that it landed a $2.3 million award from the National Institutes of Health to study pancreatic cancer with its CivaSheet device. The Durham, North Carolina-based company said the 2-year study is slated to enroll 80 patients at multiple sites to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the targeted radiation […]
Microchip mimics human cells for drug trials
A physics professor from the University of Texas in Dallas reportedly created a microchip that mimics human cells to study the effects of cancer-fighting drugs. Jason Slinker, who started working on the chip in 2007 as a postdoctoral researcher, in 2010 began collaborating with David Boothman, an oncology professor at the University of Texas Southwestern […]
High-capacity nanoparticle holds potential for targeted cancer therapies
Chemists from the Mass. Institute of Technology developed a nanoparticle that they can pack with 3 or more drugs to create custom combination therapies for cancer, according to a study published this week in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. The team also revealed that cisplatin, a powerful anti-cancer drug, doesn’t work using the […]