To hear CEO Kartik Krishnan talk about what they’re doing at OncoNano, you might think the company is part of national defense.

“We’ve created a polymer that self-assembles, and automatically detects where it needs to release its payload,” says Krishnan, describing the Dallas-Fort Worth company’s breakthrough technology.

OncoNano’s name—a fusion of oncology and nanotechnology—communicates its core mission to develop cancer treatments using nanotechnology. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Southlake, the clinical-stage company is pioneering in the long-standing battle against cancer.

“For many years, the conventional response has been surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation,” explains Melissa Paoloni, EVP and chief operating officer.

Through the years, new treatments have been developed, but that mindset has remained the same.

“The goal of every radiotherapy evolution is essentially sharpening the knife — IMRT, proton beam, targeted radiopharmacology,” says Krishnan. “What we’re doing at OncoNano is looking for the Achilles heel of cancer, which is anabolic metabolism. We’re targeting broadly disseminated cancer.”

In other words, the company is trying to target a naturally occurring process that allows cancer cells to grow quickly. It’s a new approach to treatment that was developed by Tian Zhao, PhD, vice president of research and development. Zhao began the work when he was a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Jinming Gao, a professor at UT Southwestern.

OncoNano’s Tian Zhao, PhD (left), VP of R&D, and Matthew Head, CFO. [Photos: OncoNano]

Dr. Zhao developed pH-sensitive polymers that assemble into microscopic spheres called micelles. These tiny structures, smaller than the wavelength of visible light, circulate through the body to locate tumors.

“The area around tumors is highly acidic, and it breaks the micelle down, which releases whatever we’ve put in the center,” says Zhao.

That might be an anti-cancer drug, or in the case of clinical trials at UTSW in 2021, an imaging agent that ‘paints’ any pieces of tumor that are still in the body after surgery.

“We dosed patients 24 to 72 hours before surgery. Afterwards, we brought in the infrared camera to check if all pieces of the tumor had been removed,” says Matthew Head, chief financial officer. “In 50% of the patients with peritoneal metastases, cancer that had spread throughout their abdomen, we found evidence of disease not resected.”

The technology OncoNano has developed allows these hot spots to be treated or removed before they grow into a bigger problem. Now, the company is using this technology to deliver a variety of anti-cancer treatments to hopefully maximize its benefit for patients.

It’s this kind of innovative approach that has impressed the NIH and made OncoNano a CPRIT darling. CPRIT has successively supported OncoNano, awarding the company a $10 million grant in 2020, following a $15.4 million grant in 2019, and an initial $6 million grant that helped launch the company in 2014.

The Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas is a $6 billion, 20-year initiative, but what drives the OncoNano team is also a personal connection to this deadly disease:

“A family member had cancer,” says Zhao.

“My best friend Kerry died six years ago from metastatic disease,” says Paoloni.

“When my son was four, he was diagnosed with neuroblastoma,” says Head.

Delivering new medicines to cancer patients is challenging, but this team and technology are ready to take it on.

Voices contributor Nicole Ward is a data journalist for the Dallas Regional Chamber.

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