CytoCore licenses first drug delivery system for cervical cancer lesions

By Elaine Rigoli

Tampa, Fla., Feb. 23 - CytoCore, Inc. announced that it has licensed from University Hospitals of Cleveland a new Drug Delivery System developed by physician George Gorodeski, MD, Ph.D.

This will be the first time that physicians can apply drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration to existing cervical lesions, according to a company news release.

The system uses an applicator handle and drug-delivery modality in the form of a patch that provides a timed-release delivery of the therapeutic agent directly to the surface of the cervix. The handle is a further development of CytoCore's e2 Collector handle, which has been specifically designed to quickly, safely and accurately position and deposit the patch on the cervix, the release said.

Current Pap screening programs often find the presence of cervical dysplasia or lesions in early stages. The present treatment options are either surgical removal of the lesion, or repeated follow-ups with Pap testing.

While only a fraction of cervical dysplasia cases progress to invasive cervical cancer, the atmosphere of medical uncertainty on a finding of dysplasia, and the limited treatment options (surgery or wait) place an unnecessary burden on the physicians and their patients. The company said this could explain, in part, the rising number of cervical surgeries, some of which may be unnecessary.

Abnormally growing cervical cells, including dysplastic cells, can be treated with different types of antiviral or other inhibiting medications to control their growth. Early attempts at applying such drugs to cervical lesions typically led to unacceptable toxic effects to the surrounding tissues, so the practice was abandoned, the company said.

The new system will, for the first time, offer the physician a therapeutic treatment option for cervical lesions. This new device will allow for a drug or combination of FDA-approved drugs to be applied directly and specifically to the cervix.

CytoCore believes that the nature of the device patent filed will allow for the drug manufacturer to file for a new use patent on the drugs used with the patch.

"This product will provide an effective non-surgical therapeutic solution for the huge gap in treatment that exists when dealing with precancerous cervical lesions. We are very excited with how this product expands and completes CytoCore's InPath System. With this product, we have the only end-to-end product solutions in this sector. The InPath System includes cell collection, identification, localization and now treatment of cervical dysplasia," David Weissberg, CytoCore's chief executive officer, said in a statement.

University Hospitals Health System is a large health care delivery system, serving patients at more than 150 locations throughout northern Ohio.

Based in Chicago, CytoCore develops cost-effective cancer screening systems, which can be used in a laboratory or at the point-of-care, to assist in the early detection of cervical, gastrointestinal and other cancers.

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