Summary
OncoNano Medicine, Inc. announced results from a Phase 2 study of its lead clinical development candidate, pegsitacianine, presented as a late-breaking oral presentation at the 2021 World Molecular Imaging Congress (WMIC). This late-breaking oral presentation by Dr. Jason Newman of the University of Pennsylvania Health System revealed the fluorescent nanoprobe, pegsitacianine, provided real-time surgical imaging in a tumor-agnostic manner for the accurate identification of malignant tissue in the operating room.
Pegsitacianine is an intraoperative fluorescence imaging agent under development by OncoNano Medicine for the detection of cancerous tissue in patients undergoing removal of their solid tumor. Relying on an ultra pH-sensitive activation mechanism of OncoNano’s ON-BOARDTM platform, pegsitacianine exists in a fluorescently dark (“Off”) state at physiological pH but transitions rapidly to a fluorescently “On” state in the presence of the elevated acidic tumor microenvironment. Pegsitacianine’s unique mechanism of action provides it with the potential to function as a tumor agnostic imaging agent compatible with most clinical cameras designed for ICG imaging across a variety of solid tumor types. Pegsitacianine has previously been studied in a Phase 1 clinical trial where breast, head and neck, colorectal, and esophageal cancers were successfully imaged following an intravenous dose of pegsitacianine.