Five-year survival for pancreatic cancer sits at about 13 percent. That is the figure Sonire Therapeutics cited on June 17 when it announced roughly $13 million in funding from Japan’s government to push an ultrasound treatment toward patients.
The money comes through the Deep-Tech Startups Support Program run by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, known as NEDO. Sonire’s Japan-based group company, Sonire Therapeutics KK, was selected for the program, which the company describes as one of Japan’s largest government-backed initiatives for commercializing breakthrough technologies. The award is non-dilutive, meaning it does not cost Sonire any equity.
What the treatment does
Sonire makes a system based on high-intensity focused ultrasound, or HIFU. Doctors use real-time ultrasound guidance to ablate a tumor without cutting, and they can watch the treatment as it happens. No general anesthesia is needed. The company says the design is meant to cut the burden of the procedure and make pancreatic cancer treatment possible in outpatient settings.
Sonire Therapeutics, based in Palo Alto, California, was founded in Tokyo in February 2020. It describes itself as a clinical-stage medical device company.
Where the money goes
The funding is earmarked for four things: scaling up manufacturing, regulatory approval work in Japan, expanding into more clinical indications, and speeding up Sonire’s U.S. clinical development.
“We are honored to have been selected for NEDO’s DTSU,” said Tohru Satoh, president and CEO. He said the money will help accelerate clinical development, regulatory activities, manufacturing readiness and commercialization in Japan and the United States.
The company has been busy. It started the SUNRISE-II clinical trial in the U.S. and raised $18 million in Series A financing. It also completed patient enrollment in SUNRISE-I, a randomized controlled trial in Japan evaluating the safety and feasibility of its HIFU system for pancreatic cancer. Sonire had already passed through the STS and PCA phases of the NEDO program. The phase it has now entered, called DMP, is the program’s most advanced commercialization stage, covering manufacturing readiness and market preparation.
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