Reports circulated earlier this week that AstraZeneca would announce a collaboration with CytImmune to develop a new therapy that uses gold nanoparticles as a delivery method for cancer drugs.
But AstraZeneca certainly isn’t the only one taking notice of the potential behind gold nanoparticles, whose physical and chemical properties make them especially appealing for medical applications. Siva Therapeutics, for one, has gotten the attention of angel investors who have backed the company with enough money to begin preclinical studies of its photothermal therapy for skin cancer.
The Boulder, Colorado-based startup recently closed an angel round targeted at $700,000, according to a company statement and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission documents. Together with a $350,000 grant from the Thiel Foundation’s Breakout Labs, the financing enabled the startup to expand operations and begin a new series of preclinical studies to evaluate SivaRods as a stand-alone and combination cancer therapy.
When Investment Rhymes with Canada
Canada has a proud history of achievement in the areas of science and technology, and the field of biomanufacturing and life sciences is no exception.
SivaRods are engineered gold nanorods that the company says are more selective than chemotherapy and less destructive than radiation. They are suspended in liquid and injected into the skin, where they selectively infiltrate cancer tissues. A device is then used to deliver near-infrared light that heats the nanorods and causes them to destroy the tumors. In early studies in mice, the therapy eliminated tumors in as few as 25 days, the company says.
Initially, Siva is targeting the skin cancer market. Cases of skin cancer are on the rise in the U.S. and the market for treatments is awakening after a sleepy decade. Two new drugs were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last year, and others are showing promise in mid- and late-stage trials.
Formed in 2011, Siva says its mission is to develop cancer therapies that are less invasive, safer, more effective and less costly than existing treatments. It also has a bladder cancer application of the therapy in early development.
