Carthera signs strategic collaboration with Accord Healthcare

Partnership will further development, manufacturing and commercialization of carboplatin to be used with SonoCloud system for treatment of recurrent glioblastoma

Paris, France, November 6, 2023 – Carthera, a spin-off from Sorbonne University founded by Pr Alexandre Carpentier, and developer of SonoCloud^®, an innovative ultrasound-based medical device to treat a wide range of brain disorders, today announces the signing of a strategic collaboration with Accord Healthcare Limited, a leading pharmaceutical company, for the supply of carboplatin. The financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.

The partnership covers the development and supply of carboplatin by Accord Healthcare to Carthera in the coming years. Carboplatin is a core component of Carthera’s SonoCloud solution for the treatment of recurrent glioblastoma (rGBM). With this agreement, Carthera strengthens the profile of its SonoCloud system, facilitating the regulatory approval process, and securing the supply of carboplatin for its trials and subsequent commercialization.

Carthera’s SonoCloud is a proprietary implantable device designed to open the Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB) using low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPU). rGBM is the first clinical indication that could benefit from the SonoCloud technology. Gliobastoma is a lethal and devastating form of brain cancer with a median survival rate of around 15 months after diagnosis. SonoCloud is intended to facilitate effective delivery of chemotherapy to brain tumors to improve treatment efficacy.

Carthera has recently submitted its registration trial in rGBM to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and EU competent authorities. This pivotal trial will evaluate the clinical benefit, in terms of overall survival, of the SonoCloud-9^® system, when used to open the BBB after carboplatin chemotherapy administration.

“We are delighted to enter into this agreement with Accord Healthcare and to reinforce our relationship as we develop our SonoCloud technology,” said Frédéric Sottilini, chief executive officer of Carthera. “With Accord’s expertise in the development of registration portfolios for various pharmaceutical products, we are strengthening our chances of obtaining marketing authorization in the next few years for our SonoCloud device in the treatment of recurrent glioblastoma. We look forward to working together to advance our promising technology and to help patients with this very debilitating, and all too often fatal, disease.”

Accord is the Marketing Authorization Holder (MAH) of carboplatin products. This collaboration with Carthera directly aligns with Accord’s focus on ensuring that patients have access to high quality medicines at the point of need.

“We are excited to work with Carthera to extend our carboplatin franchise into the treatment of glioblastoma, a devastating disease with significant unmet medical needs, where clinicians and patients have seen little improvement in its management,” said Alex Falgas, VP Business Development & Portfolio, Europe & MENA at Accord Healthcare. “We remain dedicated to enabling the supply of innovative products and improving patient outcomes.”

About SonoCloud^®

SonoCloud is an innovative medical device developed by Carthera. It emits ultrasound to temporarily increase the permeability of the blood vessels in the brain to improve the delivery of therapeutic molecules. Invented by Pr. Alexandre Carpentier and developed in collaboration with the Laboratory of Therapeutic Applications of Ultrasound (Laboratoire Thérapie et Applications Ultrasonores, LabTAU, INSERM) in Lyon, France, SonoCloud is an implant inserted into the skull and activated prior to injection of a therapeutic agent. Several minutes of low-intensity ultrasound opens the blood-brain barrier for six hours and increases the concentration of therapeutic molecules in the brain. This ultrasound-induced opening of the blood-brain barrier is a world first; it offers a new treatment option for a wide range of indications, including brain tumors and Alzheimer’s disease.

The safety of the investigational use of SonoCloud has not yet been determined, the device has not yet received EMA or FDA approval.

About Accord Healthcare Ltd

Headquartered in the United Kingdom (UK), Accord Healthcare, Ltd. is one of the fastest growing pharmaceutical companies in Europe. Accord has one of the largest market footprints among European companies in its category, ensuring that over 95% of European patients get access to vital medicines. Accord has over 40 oncology and oncology-related treatments, making it one of the largest suppliers of chemotherapy products in Europe with an additional 20 in development and scheduled for launch over the next five years. Our approach is agile and inventive, always seeking to improve our products and patients’ access to them. We’re driven to think differently and deliver more for the benefit of patients worldwide.

www.accord-healthcare.com

About Carthera 

Carthera is a clinical-stage medtech company focused on developing innovative ultrasound-based medical devices to treat a wide range of brain disorders.

The company is a spin-off from AP-HP Paris and Sorbonne University. Carthera leverages the inventions of Pr. Alexandre Carpentier, head neurosurgeon at AP-HP Sorbonne university, who has achieved worldwide recognition for his innovative developments in treating brain disorders. Carthera is developing SonoCloud^®, an intracranial implant that temporarily opens the Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB). The device is currently in clinical trials in Europe and the United States.

Founded in 2010, Carthera has offices in France (Lyon and Paris) and a subsidiary in the United States. Since its inception, the technical and clinical development of SonoCloud has received support from the National Research Agency (ANR), the French public investment bank (Bpifrance), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the European Innovation Council (EIC).

www.carthera.eu