A spinoff of Europe’s largest hospital system, Carthera developed the groundbreaking SonoCloud implant to help treat a wide range of deadly brain disorders, including glioblastoma and brain metastases. The company’s device addresses the longstanding problem of the body’s blood-brain barrier, which typically blocks the penetration, and thus potential therapeutic effects, of over 95% of small-molecule and 100% of large-molecule drugs in the brain.
Thanks to its unique placement during standard tumor resection surgery, SonoCloud opens the blood-brain barrier in minutes and keeps it open for several hours at a time, so intravenous drugs can reach the brain in higher and more effective concentrations. Compared to alternatives, SonoCloud also dramatically improves patient experience and practitioner workflows.
In early 2024, Carthera enrolled its first patient in a pivotal trial of the device for treatment of recurrent glioblastoma. The company is also investigating whether the technique alone, without additional drug therapies, may lead to improvement of Alzheimer’s Disease pathology.
BioWorld – Carthera Raises €37.5M for Ultrasound Brain Cancer Device
Broadcast Med – Focused Ultrasound Technology May Overcome Barrier to Brain Tumor Treatments
Clinical Trials Arena – Carthera Kicks Off Pivotal Trial with Blood-Brain-Barrier Opening Device
Drug Delivery Business News – Carthera Enrolls First Patient in Ultrasound Drug Delivery Trial
Drug Delivery Business News – Carthera Wins U.S., EU Orphan Drug Designation for SonoCloud
European Biotechnology – Carthera Closes Series B Round at €42M
Fierce Pharma – French Researchers Open Blood-Brain Barrier Using Ultrasound Implant
Financial Times – Ultrasound Used to Breach Blood-Brain Barrier in Cancer Treatment
FinSMEs – Carthera Raises Additional €4.5M; Brings Series B Round to €42M
FirstWord Pharma – Carthera Partners with Agenus and Northwestern University for Phase 2a Trial Combining SonoCloud-9 with Checkpoint Inhibitors to Treat Glioblastoma
FirstWord Pharma – Carthera: Positive Results from Phase I/II Clinical Trial of SonoCloud-9 in Treatment of Glioblastoma Published in Nature Communications
Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News – Ultrasound Device Opens Blood-Brain Barrier to Treat Glioblastoma in Humans
HospiMedica – Blood-Brain-Barrier Opening Device Enhances Chemotherapy Drug Delivery to Brain Tissue
Interesting Engineering – Novel Ultrasound Device Temporarily Opens Blood-Brain Barrier to Deliver Chemotherapy
Labiotech – Shuttles, Bubbles and Ultrasound: Crossing the Blood-Brain Barrier
Laboratory Equipment – Chemo Drug Breaches Blood-Brain Barrier for the First Time
Live Science – New Ultrasound Device Helps Powerful Chemo Reach Deadly Brain Cancers, Human Trial Shows
MassDevice – Carthera Closes Series B to Support SonoCloud
MassDevice – FDA Grants Breakthrough Nod for Carthera’s SonoCloud-9
Medical Device Network – Carthera Bags €37.5M to Kickstart Implantable Device Trial for Brain Cancer
Medical Device Network – Carthera Kicks Off Pivotal Trial with Blood-Brain-Barrier Opening Device
Medical Device Network – Carthera Sees Positive Results in Brain-Blood Barrier Trial
Medical News Today – Ultrasound Device May Help Deliver Chemotherapy Drugs to Treat Brain Cancer
NeuroNews – Carthera and U.S. FDA Align on Key Aspects of Potential Pivotal Trial Assessing SonoCloud System
NeuroNews – Carthera Enrolls First Patient in Trial Assessing Novel Recurrent Glioblastoma Treatment
NeuroNews – Carthera Publishes ‘Promising’ Results with SonoCloud-9 in Glioblastoma Patients
Physics World – Ultrasound Implant Helps Deliver Powerful Chemotherapy to Brain Tumors
Popular Science – Scientists Have Developed a New Way to Fight a Nearly Untreatable Brain Cancer
SciTechDaily – Cancer Breakthrough: Chemotherapy Drug Reaches Human Brain for the First Time
Smithsonian Magazine – Vibrating Micro-Bubbles Let Drugs Sneak Across the Blood-Brain Barrier
STAT – An Ultrasound Device May Unlock Brain Cancer Treatment, Early Study Shows
Tech.eu – Carthera Secures Additional €4.5M for Innovative Medtech to Treat Brain Disorders
The Cancer Letter – FDA, EMA Grant Orphan Drug Designation to Carthera for Carboplatin with SonoCloud Technology in Glioma
The Wall Street Journal – New Ultrasound Therapy Could Help Treat Alzheimer’s, Cancer
France 2030 – i-Nov State Innovation Competition
U.S. Food and Drug Administration – Breakthrough Designation
U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency – Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) for the use of carboplatin in the treatment of malignant glioma
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