A robot arm, an ultrasound probe and a beam of focused sound: that is the combination Sonire Therapeutics is putting up against pancreatic cancer. Japan has now backed it with a $13 million grant.
The money comes from the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation, or NEDO, through its Deep-Tech Startups Support program. It goes to Sonire Therapeutics KK, the company’s Japanese group, which is headquartered in Tokyo and also has a presence in the United States. The program is comparable to European financing schemes such as InvestEU. Its job is to help deep-technology companies bridge the gap between development and commercialisation, with support running from product development through regulatory approval to market adoption.
How the system works
The device is called Suizenji. It is a high-intensity focused ultrasound platform, or HIFU, that pairs real-time imaging guidance with a robot-assisted positioning system. Sound energy is aimed at a tumour from outside the body and heats it enough to destroy the tissue, a process known as thermal ablation.
The US Food and Drug Administration gave Suizenji a breakthrough device designation in November 2024. The platform is now being tested in SUNRISE-I (NCT05601323), a study in patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer. It compares HIFU plus chemotherapy against chemotherapy alone and has enrolled patients at seven Japanese hospitals.
An earlier academic-led study used a prototype HIFU system in patients with advanced or refractory pancreatic and biliary tract cancers, in a sonodynamic therapy setting. It reported a 66% disease control rate.
Sonire has also started SUNRISE-II (NCT07033689), led by Stanford University, which will evaluate Suizenji in patients with unresectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
Where the grant goes
The grant follows an $18 million Series A round that Sonire completed in April 2026. Sonire said the new funds will go toward manufacturing scale-up, regulatory approval activities in Japan, additional clinical indications and its ongoing US development work.
“We are honoured to have been selected for NEDO’s DTSU,” said chief executive Tohru Satoh. He said the funding “will help accelerate our clinical development, regulatory activities, manufacturing readiness, and commercialisation efforts in both Japan and the United States.”
Sonire is not alone in looking for gentler options. Novocure’s Optune Pax device for locally advanced pancreatic cancer won FDA clearance in February 2026. It was the agency’s first clearance in that indication since Eli Lilly’s chemotherapy drug Gemzar in 1996. Pancreatic cancer has long been very difficult to treat, and overall survival remains low.
