Report On CivaTech Device Wins World Congress Kudos

It wasn’t meant to be a beauty pageant, but it turned into a beautiful thing for CivaTech Oncology.

The Research Triangle Park company developing cancer therapy devices with funding help from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center is featured in an abstract that will get a “Best in Show” award at an upcoming scientific meeting.

CivaTech officials just learned that a scientific abstract featuring the company’s new, FDA cleared CivaSheet radiation therapy device was awarded “Best of Show – Physics” at the American Brachytherapy Society’s 2016 World Congress of Brachytherapy. The abstract was proclaimed one of the top four sent to the conference out of 400-plus total submissions.

The abstract will be presented by its author, Mark Rivard, Ph.D., professor of medical physics at Tufts University School of Medicine, during a special session during the upcoming ABS World Congress of Brachytherapy June 27 through 29 in San Francisco.

CivaTec received a $249,048 Small Business Research Loan in 2012 from NCBiotech. That has helped the company secure multi-million-dollar funding from sources such as venture investors and the National Cancer Institute.

 “The abstract focuses on CivaSheet’s directional radiation properties when used to treat cancer in the pelvic sidewall region,” explained Rivard. “Results from an actual patient implanted with the CivaSheet were compared to theoretical results assuming traditional radiation seeds. The results showed that the new directional CivaSheet provided good dose coverage to the target treatment region while drastically reducing unwanted collateral radiation dose to sensitive and healthy bowel tissues when compared to traditional therapy devices.”

The CivaSheet is a flexible bio-absorbable implant that emits directional low-dose radiation by using gold shielding and polymer-encapsulated radiation sources. This directional property allows physicians to deliver aggressive radiation doses immediately adjacent to healthy, sensitive tissues. It also enables physicians to deliver focused radiation doses to patients who may have already received dose limits from external-beam radiation, thus expanding options to patients with advanced or recurrent disease.

Also of note, three additional abstracts featuring CivaSheet will be presented at the San Francisco meeting. Details are available on the CivaTech Oncology website.

The first of the company’s proprietary low-dose-rate brachytherapy devices, the CivaString, was cleared by the FDA several years ago for use in localized tumors. The company is also developing other implantable bioabsorbable brachytherapy products to treat breast and other localized cancers.

scroll back to top of page