Founded in March 2011, OncoSec Medical Incorporated is developing its advanced-stage OMS ElectroOncology therapies to treat solid tumor cancers, which is designed to significantly improve patient treatment outcomes compared to the disfigurement, functional and quality of life impacts of today’s surgery and other treatment alternatives. OncoSec’s core technology is based upon it's proprietary electroporation OncoSec Medical System (OMS), which dramatically enhances delivery and uptake of a locally delivered DNA-based immuno-cytokine (OMS ElectroImmunotherapy) or chemotherapeutic agent (OMS ElectroChemotherapy). Treatment of cancer using these powerful anti-cancer agents have shown selective destruction of cancerous cells and tumors in early and late stage clinical trials of over 400 patients while sparing healthy normal tissue in treated areas. OncoSec has identified a need, and it’s OMS ElectroOncology therapies is a solution, for less invasive therapies able to minimize detrimental effects resulting from currently available cancer treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.

OncoSec Medical System

OncoSec's novel solid tumor therapies consist of two main components: the first is an agent capable of selectively killing cancerous cells or stimulating the immune system to kill cancerous cells; the second is a novel delivery system for the agent.
 
Most drugs and all genes must enter into a cell in order to perform their intended function. Finding a safe and effective method of delivering potentially useful agents into cells has been a persistent challenge for researchers and physicians. OncoSec's proprietary delivery system, called the OncoSec Medical System™ (OMS), directly addresses this challenge. It accomplishes this by harnessing a scientific phenomenon known as electroporation.

Electroporation

Electron micrographs of cells before and after brief electric pulses confirm that electroporation causes pores to open and close.

• In the 1970s, researchers discovered that applying a brief electric field to a living cell caused a transient increase in permeability, or pores, in the cell's outer membrane.
• It was also observed that the pores would close within minutes of the electric field being discontinued.
• The phenomenon became known as electroporation, from the words electric and pore.
• By creating these membrane pores, the agent previously injected into the area can flow into the targeted cells by an increased factor of 1000 or more.

OncoSec Medical System™ Overview

The OncoSec Medical System™ (OMS) is designed to use the power of electroporation to dramatically increase the cellular uptake of OncoSec's chosen therapeutic agents and enable these agents to provide their cancer-killing benefits.
 
The OMS electroporation platform consists of a generator and applicator:

• The OMS generator is an electronic device that creates a pulsed electric field sufficient to induce a transient increase in the permeability of the cell membranes within the treatment field.
• The hand-held applicator has a hexagonal arrangement of three pairs of electrode needles at its distal end. When activated, the generator supplies a series of short duration electrical pulses of specific voltage through the six-needle hexagonal array within the head of the applicator.
• The generator automatically sequences these pulses among the pairs of opposed needles. Each subsequent set of pulses is applied to the adjacent electrode-needle pair such that the pulsing sequence "rotates" around the array. This sequencing of pulses assures complete and uniform coverage of the electric field within the needle array and, consequently, complete and uniform electroporation of the target cell membranes.

The OncoSec Medical System is designed to create an electric field of effective but not excessive electrical strength within the needle-electrode array and minimize any effects on healthy tissue outside the array. In doing so, the OMS dramatically increases the cellular uptake of the delivered agent and maximizes its potential to perform its intended function while avoiding any impact on normal tissues.

OMS Applicators

OMI has designed and engineered applicators with varying needle lengths, electrode needle spacing, tip composition and angles and handle configurations to allow the treating physician to customize the device for ease of access to a greater range of tumors.

Applicator characteristics:

• Sterile, single use, disposable   
• Plastic handle assembly has six stainless steel needle electrodes on the distal (treatment) end and a transfer cable that securely connects to the front panel of the generator
• Needle electrodes are assembled specifically in a hexagon configuration capable of treating a 1 cm diameter area. To treat larger tumors and tumor margins, the applicator is re-applied in a contiguous fashion
• Applicator heads with straight or adjustable angles in order to address different size tumors and local anatomical requirements
• A microprocessor embedded in the applicator enables the OMS to configure the correct pulse parameters for each treatment and provide device diagnostics to the base instrument
• The ethylene oxide (ETO) sterilized applicators are packaged in two Tyvek™ lidded trays, one within the other to provide for a double sterile barrier.

OncoSec is using its OMS electroporation delivery system to locally administer two agents: bleomycin, an effective anti-cancer chemical agent; and gene-based cytokines, which are able to stimulate the immune system to kill cancer cells.

Proprietary Technology

Today, OncoSec is positioned as a world leader with an electroporation technology platform to locally deliver clinically proven chemotherapeutics (electrochemotherapy) or gene-based cytokines (electroimmunotherapy) for the treatment of solid tumor cancers.

• Based on extensive research and development, OncoSec possesses the industry's most comprehensive patent portfolio focused on cancer treatments using electroporation in conjunction with chemotherapeutic agents or gene-based cytokines
• The company's technology development and intellectual property strategy focuses on the design, development, manufacture of medical grade electrical pulse generators, treatment applicators, software and electroporation conditions that maximize safety and efficacy for different clinical applications.
• Intellectual property surrounding the methods of use and gene sequences for the immunotherapy program have been protected.
• The patent portfolio is complemented by a broad base of electroporation and medical device know-how, clinical trial experience and trade secrets.

Board of Directors

Avtar Dhillon, M.D.
Chairman

James M DeMesa, M.D.
Director

Punit Dhillon
President & Chief Executive Officer

Anthony E. Maida, III, Ph.D., MA, MBA
Director

Management

Punit Dhillon
President & Chief Executive Officer

Caryn Peterson
Vice President, Regulatory Affairs

Veronica Vallejo, CPA
Vice President Finance and Controller

Brian McCluskey, B.Eng.
Executive Director, Engineering

Ernest Kitt
Executive Director, Clinical Operations

For more information Click Here