OncoBind™ Extracorporeal Procedure for Metastatic Cancer

Disrupting communication across metastatic sites, in cancer, opens the opportunity to think about intervention in a very different way.

Peter Kuhn, Ph.D

Founding Director, USC Michelson Convergent Science Institute in Cancer

Opportunities & Challenges in Metastatic Cancer

“Metastasis is the hallmark of cancer that is responsible for the greatest number of cancer-related deaths.”1 It is estimated that more than 600,000 patients in the United States will die from cancer in 20222, of which 90% will be from metastatic causes.3

Metastatic cancer lacks effective therapies as it is often resistant to chemotherapy, radiation, and immunotherapy. A higher concentration of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in blood is associated with unfavorable outcomes in metastatic cancer.4

Experimental methods which remove CTCs have been shown to improve outcomes in animals.5 Reduction of CTCs from the bloodstream may provide patient benefit by slowing or preventing metastasis.6

Circulating Tumor Cell Removal Program

OncoBind Procedure for Circulating Tumor Cell Removal
The OncoBind Extracorporeal Blood Filter has demonstrated in vitro adsorption of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from plasma, sparking accelerated clinical research activity in the area of oncology.7

  • FDA has approved Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) for clinical study in patients suffering from pancreatic cancer
  • Greater than 96% single-pass removal of CTC’s observed in vitro7
  • In vitro results replicated at multiple investigational sites

Press Releases

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1. Fares, J., Fares, M.Y., Khachfe, H.H. et al. Molecular principles of metastasis: a hallmark of cancer revisited. Sig Transduct Target Ther 5, 28 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41392-020-0134-x
2. https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/cancer-org/research/cancer-facts-and-statistics/annual-cancer-facts-and-figures/2022/2022-cancer-facts-and-figures.pdf 
3. Guan Xiangming, Cancer metastases: Challenges and opportunities, APSB; 5(5)402-18
4. https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/cdrh_docs/pdf7/k071729.pdf
5. Rao SS, Bushnell GG, Azarin SM, Spicer G, Aguado BA, Stoehr JR, Jiang EJ, Backman V, Shea LD, Jeruss JS. Enhanced Survival with Implantable Scaffolds That Capture Metastatic Breast Cancer Cells In Vivo. Cancer Res. 2016 Sep 15;76(18):5209-18. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-15-2106
6. Rossi E, Fabbri F. CTCs 2020: Great Expectations or Unreasonable Dreams. Cells. 2019 Aug 27;8(9):989. doi: 10.3390/cells8090989. PMID: 31461978; PMCID: PMC6769853.
7. Koch B, Cinatl JJ, Rothweiler F.  Absorption of Circulating Tumor Cells by Hemoperfusion.  Poster presented at 13. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Nephrologie; September 25, 2021