Interview with Celsion Investigator Dr. Steven Libutti

This interview with Dr. Steven Libutti, conducted by Rodman & Renshaw's Reni Benjamin on 3/12/12, was recently posted by Celsion on their website and announced via a press release. For those of you new to the Celsion story, I highly encourage you to listen to this in its entirety. Dr. Libutti not only touches on the promise of ThermoDox, but gives a highly informative overview of the HCC treatment paradigm, his own research interests, and future therapies on the horizon. Note that Dr. Libutti was not an investigator in the Phase III HEAT study, but will be leading the Phase II CRLM ABLATE trial.



Below are some of the salient highlights from this hour long interview, specifically as they pertain to ThermoDox:

• Margins of ablation are "main Achilles heel" for RFA 
• Temperature zone that activates ThermoDox extends "several centimeters" out from center of ablation
• "Very reasonable safety profile"
• "We saw interesting increases in the ablation zone, above and beyond what you would get with RF alone"
• "PFS is an important endpoint for both HCC and metastatic liver disease"
• "Plan is to get around 6 sites in the ABLATE trial...I believe Cleveland Clinic will be the next one"
• "Ablative technologies like RF ablation and ThermoDox might be prime for the addition of an agent after the ablation to try [a la Bayer/Onyxx STORM trial] to hold the response...that is potentially an ideal use for pathway targeting therapies [i.e. like Nexavar, other TKI's, etc.]"

It does not get any better than hearing directly from a key opinion leader in the field, particularly from someone with a specific interest in locoregional treatments of the liver such as Dr. Libutti. 

Siavoche