ThermaSeed Inc.

Devices for cancer ablation

• Contact: H. Clark Adams, Pres.

• Address:16980 Via Tazon, Suite 100, San Diego, CA 92127

• Phone: [phone]

• Website:http\\www.thermaseed.com

• Founded:January 1996

For many of the 300,000 patients in the US diagnosed with prostate cancer each year, the first-line treatment option is the most radical and frightening: surgery that can result in impotence or incontinence. Less-invasive treatments include external beam radiation, which may not be a good first step because it can cause scar tissue that interferes with surgery later, and because the radiation is not strictly localized. Some companies are developing better means of delivering radiation locally—TheraGenics Corp., for example, is testing radioactive seeds which can be implanted at the tumor site. But radiation is still not an ideal approach; it can only be used in federally-approved radiation-handling facilities and there are extra costs associated with storage, handling and disposal. Furthermore, one fears its potential effects on non-cancerous tissue.

ThermaSeed Inc. founders wondered if there wasn't some alloy that could be engineered in the form of seeds to deliver cell-killing heat to a tumor site. Chief Scientific Officer Robert Tucker, PhD, MD, an associate professor of pathology at the University of Iowa possessed the unique combination of skills to tackle the problem; he is a practicing pathologist as well as a physicist. Over seven years, he experimented with alloys to achieve the necessary qualities of biocompatibility, non-corrosion and heat retention, and he discovered and patented a palladium-cobalt alloy that can be heated up to, but not above, a specific threshhold. This alloy became the basis of ThermaSeed's patented ThermoTherapy system.

The ThermoTherapytreatment regimen, for which Phase I trials were completed in Germany, involves the permanent implantation of 30-40 ThermaSeeds into the prostate with a needle-like applicator (patent pending). The patient sits in a chair through which a magnetic field is delivered to the groin area. Seeds heat up to 60 degrees C, killing cells and destroying blood vessels. (Above 46 degrees C, all tissue is destroyed). The company has yet to optimize dosing, but in the trials, therapy sessions lasted for one hour and patients received six separate treatments.

The company estimates the delivery cost of its therapy to be $7,000, compared to $15,000 for external beam radiation or $20,000 for surgery. Since it is locally targeted and doesn't use radiation, it also has the potential to avoid the side effects attendant with current treatments. It is also simple enough to be administered on an outpatient basis.

President Clark Adams was the co-founder of drug-infusion firm Deltec Systems, and also has experience in business development and marketing, as former VP of Marketing and Business Development at IVAC Medical Systemsand VP, Business Development and Strategic Planning for Pharmacia Deltec. Board member Donald Grimm is seasoned in the prostate cancer market; he was the president, CEO and chairman of Hybritech Inc., during the time that company developed the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test. Chairman of the Board Michael Hollenhorst is currently President & CEO of Cardiac Instruments Inc. and has served as president of Everest Medical Corp. and, Angiomedics Inc. in addition to founding Gull Medical Products Inc.

Seed funding of $750,000 was provided by individuals. —MS