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11/13/2007
Fairway Receives $1.4 Million for Phase II Research Grant - 3D Hybrid Opto-acoustics-Ultrasonic System for Diagnostic Imaging of Breast Cancer
HOUSTON, November 13, 2007 - New funding totaling $1.4 million will support Phase II research for breast cancer detection using a laser opto-acoustics imaging and an enhanced 3D Hybrid Opto-acoustics-Ultrasonic System for Diagnostic Imaging of Breast Cancer under development at Fiarway medical Technologies for Seno Medical Instruments, Inc. The three year grant is a program of the Small Business Innovation Research office of NCI and was awarded to Fairway's VP of R&D Alexander Oraevsky, PhD, who is the Principal Investigator.
"With this grant we currently have three active federal grants in the field of opto-acoustics - the other two involve prostate cancer research and the use of nanoparticles," said Jim Meador, Fairway's president.
Breast Cancer Detection
The technology uses laser opto-acoustics imaging to locate tumors tagged with gold nanorods bound to antibodies against breast cancer-specific receptors. Fairway incubated the technology, devoting over five years toward research and pilot studies in tandem with The University of Texas Branch at Galveston (UTMB). These studies which were also funded with federal grants from the National Institutes of Health and the US Army's Breast Cancer Program, indicate the system can detect breast cancer tumors potentially as small as 2 millimeters, five times smaller than most malignant breast tumors detected currently.
Phase II NIH Research
"The Goal of the Phase II breast cancer research is to determine whether the 3D Hybrid optimized imaging system will enable in vivo imaging of early in situ breast tumors in animals with excellent sensitivity," said Alexander A. Oraevsky, PhD, Fairway's Vice President of R&D and the Principal Investigator.
The technology was acquired by Seno Medical Instruments, Inc. in 2006 from Fairway who remains a significant Seno shareholder. Seno then entered into an agreement to continue to use Fairway as their development partner.
Privately held Fairway, which has more than doubled its manufacturing and research capacity in the past 24 months, develops and commercializes medical devices based on proprietary or licensed technologies, and provides contract development and manufacturing services for outside clients. A portfolio company of BCM Technologies, the venture capital subsidiary of Baylor College of Medicine, Fairway has close relationships with a variety of research institutions located in the Texas Medical Center. It has successfully orchestrated the design, development and manufacturing of scores of medical products, including FDA class III (life supporting) devices.
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