Presage Biosciences will be receiving its first grant from The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research, a brand new nonprofit organization.
Presage developed something called CIVO, which is a drug-development platform. With CIVO, drug developers can understand biological response to tumors. The grant money will go into advancing CIVO.
“We are deeply honored to be the inaugural grant award for The Mark Foundation,” said Richard Klinghoffer, Presage’s chief scientific officer. “This project aims to provide a technology to test dozens of potential combinations per patient, with the intent to dramatically accelerate advancement of life saving treatments into the cancer clinic.”
A bit of background on the CIVO platform: This device is used to track the delivery of drugs to a specific area in a tumor using cutting edge technology. Microscopic doses of medicine are delivered straight into the tumors and this is where the ongoing fight between the cancer and the body is taking place on the front lines. Thanks to this microscopic process, it is now possible to test a variety of drugs within a single patient.
The idea is to use CIVO to transport anti-cancer drugs to soft tissue sarcoma tumors in 12 patients.
Traditional approaches have failed us in the past which is why CIVO is the hope we are all looking out for and with it, we could analyze how drugs react inside tumors that might lead us to finding a cure for them.
Presage has dubbed CIVO as a “functional precision technology” and our best hope for understanding how tumors react to certain drugs or combinations of drugs. We are now looking toward drug combinations as a way to treat cancer.
“The development of Presage’s intratumoral microdosing platform is well aligned with The Mark Foundation’s mission of funding groundbreaking cancer research that integrates the discovery of new knowledge in biology with innovative technology solutions,” said Michele Cleary, CEO of The Mark Foundation.
Presage has the pedigree to validate their findings. Their advanced understanding of a tumor’s unique biology coupled with their technological methods is all the confidence they need to ensure the best results for their patients.
