Mirai Medical Announces First Patient Enrolled in VECTOR Trial using ePORE® therapy for the Treatment of Inoperable Oesophageal and Gastric Cancer


First patient treated in VECTOR at Nottingham NHS Trust

The procedure was straightforward for specialists with advanced endoscopy skills. We are actively recruiting further patients

Mirai Medical Ltd, a manufacturer of a precision cancer therapy platform , today announced the first procedures in the clinical trial to evaluate ePORE® therapy and EndoVE®, a novel breakthrough technology that can treat gastrointestinal cancers endoscopically in an outpatient setting with minimum hospitalisation for the patient.

The first procedure in the VECTOR trial (NCT04649372) was performed this week at Nottingham NHS Trust, United Kingdom in a team led by Mr. Simon Parsons. The VECTOR trial aims to establish the safety and efficacy of treating patients with inoperable oesophageal cancer or gastric cancer in an outpatient setting, using an endoscopic system EndoVE® to facilitate greatly enhanced low dose chemotherapy tumour absorption.

Developed exclusively at Mirai Medical, ePORE® therapy delivers high frequency pulsed electrical fields to ‘electroporate’ the tissue i.e. to make the cells porous, through the specifically designed EndoVE® device which is applied directly to tumours in the gastrointestinal tract. Unlike traditional methods used for tumour destruction (radiotherapy used ionizing radiation; Radio frequency uses heating, Cryoablation uses cooling), ePORE® therapy uses high frequency pulsed electrical fields which are non-toxic and preferentially target cancerous tissue leaving healthy tissues intact.

“The first patient was treated in the VECTOR trial in Nottingham yesterday. The procedure was very well tolerated in our 87 year old patient not fit for major surgery. The procedure was straightforward for specialists with advanced endoscopy skills. We are actively recruiting further patients,” said Mr. Simon Parsons.

Oesophageal cancer is the 7th most common cause of cancer morbidity and the 6th most common cause of cancer related death worldwide. In western countries, incidence of adenocarcinoma (OAC), a histological subtype of oesophageal cancer has increased by over 600% over the past 3 decades. With no specific symptoms of early oesophageal cancers, most tumours are diagnosed at a late stage and rapidly progress to an advanced stage when treatment options are limited and cure is not possible.

The VECTOR trial is a single arm interventional trial which will enrol up to 30 patients to be treated by ePORE® therapy is designed to investigate safety and efficacy in the palliation of dysphagia and its impact on the quality of life of patients with inoperable oesophageal and gastric cancer.

“We’re very grateful to all the clinicians and patients who have supported us in bringing this exciting new technology forward. It’s taken a tremendous effort by the whole team at Mirai Medical and its hugely rewarding to see how our technology can improve patients’ lives,” said Dr. Declan Soden PhD the chief executive officer of Mirai Medical.

“We are delighted to see the first patient treated in the VECTOR trial which will complement several completed and ongoing trials all of which have shown the benefits of EndoVE® and ePORE® in the treatment of gastrointestinal cancers. We’ve also seen encouraging data on how our approach can improve the immune response and which holds great promise for this technology to be combined in the future with immunotherapies.”

About Mirai Medical

At Mirai Medical, we are passionate about developing technology that greatly improves cancer outcomes and enhances patient experiences. Following over 10 years of research and development, Mirai Medical was formed from a team with over 30 combined years of experience in the field of electroporation and pulsed electrical fields for cancer, immunotherapy and medical device development to address critical unmet challenges in global skin and gastrointestinal cancer treatment. Our ePORE® technology is a unique precision therapy platform that targets tumour tissue whilst preserving surrounding healthy tissue structure. Proven to be a safe, simple and cost-effective technique, it greatly reduces side effects and improves the experience of cancer patients. It is less invasive and allows for faster treatment delivered as a day-case procedure.

ePORE® and EndoVE® are approved for commercialisation in the European Union, United Kingdom and Australia.

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