A swish of a magic wand to make dreams come true is the stuff of fairy tales. But, Wayfinder startup Current Surgical believes they can create a hopeful dose of reality with their own version of a magic wand in the form of a tiny needle.
A microneedle to be exact.
The startup aims to bring to market a smart surgical needle to enable the next generation of micro-invasive therapies. Their first focus will be on oncology and, more specifically, liver cancer, which will claim more than 30,000 lives in the U.S. this year and generally, has a five-year survival rate of 20%, according to the American Cancer Society.
“People often can’t receive curative treatment because the tumors are near critical anatomy,” said Al Mashal, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of Current Surgical. “So, they have to either rely on chemotherapy or radiation, which just slows the disease. With Current Surgical’s technology, we are giving the tools doctors don’t have right now to treat a tumor that’s near critical anatomy, like arteries or bile ducts.”
Using real-time X-ray guidance, a microneedle is inserted into a tumor and, once inside the tumor, the needle uses ultrasound energy, which heats and more precisely kills the tumor without affecting nearby vital organs and tissue.
“Surgeons decide to operate when they know they can deliver good outcomes with the tools that are available. Which means, outcomes are limited by the quality of the tools,” said Chris Wagner, Ph.D., co-founder and chief technology officer of Current Surgical. “Here we have the opportunity to deliver something that’s straightforward to use and allows surgeons to address previously un-addressable tumors. So, (we are) giving these surgeons superpowers so everybody benefits.”
The dynamic duo recently received a $256,000 National Science Foundation Phase 1 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant and plans to use the funds to gather pre-clinical data by showing the technology working on animal tissue. Additionally, they have received critical guidance on their startup through Applied Innovation’s Wayfinder program, which they joined in July 2020. Current Surgical has found the program especially helpful, even during stay-at-home orders.
“The Wayfinder program has been hugely helpful. We have a dedicated mentor we talk with every other week, and there is a larger mentoring and support network,” said Wagner. “These highly accomplished members of the community are willing to spend their time, to help us be successful on all aspects of a new venture.”
Current Surgical has also been accepted into the first cohort of the SciFounders Fellowship, a new program that encourages people with more academic and scientific backgrounds to pursue entrepreneurship as a possible career path. The team was one of five chosen out of nearly 400 applicants.
“We are motivated to give patients a new hope for a lot of these cancers. Every time we hear about a friend or family member who died from cancer, that gives us extra urgency to try to create a better tool,” said Mashal. “Beyond oncology, we have a lot of opportunities to improve surgery as a whole. Cancer is just the first step.”
Learn more about Current Surgical.
Main Graphic: Kate Wokowsky, UCI Beall Applied Innovation
Photos courtesy of Current Surgical