NanoEcho’s innovative method aims to address an urgent global need for more reliable rectal cancer staging. The method is intended to enable the mapping of lymphatic cancer spread prior to surgery – an important marker for the cancer’s progression. This mapping would make it possible to avoid surgery with high risk of complications. The basic patent for the method, previously granted in Japan, has now also been granted in Europe and South Korea.
The granted basic patent protects the design of a hand-held probe, that is, the unique combination of an ultrasonic transducer placed together with one or several magnets in the same unit.
The method uses iron-oxide-based nanoparticles as the contrast agent. A magnetic field is applied to set the particles in motion, which then are detected by ultrasound. This way, a differentiation between healthy and diseased tissue in lymph nodes located in proximity to the tumor is mapped out.
The fact that the basic patent for NanoEcho’s method, which was previously granted in Japan, has now also been granted in the European and South Korean markets is very positive. This entails that our basic patent is now approved in countries that account for almost 40 percent of the global rectal cancer market, says Linda Persson, CEO of NanoEcho.
The above patents are also being examined in Canada and the United States, where the process is proceeding according to plan.
