LiveSonics
Dr. Igal Ilouz, CEO
Email: igal.ilouz@livesonics.com
Livesonics Ltd. is a therapeutic medical technology company focused on subcostal cancer therapy by non invasive focused ultrasound.
Livesonics' goal is to make subcostal cancer treatment totally non invasive, eligible for all patients and with no side effects associated with current available modalities.
The Livesonics proprietary breakthrough technology allows for identification and destruction of liver tumor beyond the ribs by non invasive ultrasound during real time feedback on the treatment progress.
Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer in the world and represents more than 5% of all cancers.
Approximately 600 000 cases of HCC are diagnosed each year and it is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths.
In addition, The liver is second only to the lymph nodes as the most common site for metastases from cancers arising in other sites in the body. Each year worldwide approximately 500 000 people die from colorectal cancer and 950,000 new cases are diagnosed.
Approximately 60% of patients will develop metastatic disease, which is localized to the liver alone in half of them. Therefore are more than 900,000 new cases of liver cancer worldwide every year. Currently, there is no non invasive solution for liver treatment.
Surgical resection is the only potentially curative approach for patients with primary and metastatic liver tumors. Unfortunately, most patients (80-90%) with hepatic malignancy are precluded from resection due to multifocal disease, anatomic limitations, inadequate functional liver reserve, extrahepatic metastases, or medical comorbidities.
Consequently, several methods of tumor ablation have been developed as alternate treatment strategies. Patients with localized, unresectable hepatic metastases may be candidates for cryosurgery, laser, microwave ablation (MWA), radiofrequency ablation (RFA), hepatic arterial ligation, and embolization. From those strategies, radio frequency ablation (RFA) is the most widely used.
All existing solutions using HIFU are unsatisfactory from various aspects (commercial/user/patient). Therefore, although RFA offers only a partial solution and provides very limited results, it is currently still the most widely used treatment for primary and metastatic hepatic tumors if surgery is not an option.
Livesonics was founded and is currently spearheaded by a team of experts with extensive experience in the areas of medical applications of therapeutic and imaging ultrasound:
Igal Ilouz, PhD. – CEO. PhD. in physics.
Has experience with R&D leading of innovative technologies in start-up companies. In last position was the manager of a project to develop a unique ultrasound technology in diagnosis & treatment of vascular diseases.
Prof. Dan Adam, D.Sc. - Founder and scientific adviser.
A globally recognized specialist in medical imaging & therapeutic ultrasound and control of thermotherapy. He is the acting Dean of Faculty of Biomedical Engineering in the Technion, Israel.
Benjamin P. Sabbah - Founder and Technological & business Adviser.
35 years of experience in management of high-tech companies. He was co-founder and CEO of Elscint Ltd.
Dr. Zvi Friedman Ph.D - Founder and Technological & business Adviser.
PhD. in physics. Holds years of ultrasound development experience.
An expert of medical applications of Ultrasound. He is acting as the Director of clinical research and R&D in GE UltraSound Ltd.
Livesonics revolutionary solution is a based on a low cost totally non invasive high intensity focused ultrasound using a proprietary combination of ultrasound frequencies and waveforms that enables the ultrasonic beam to penetrate through the ribs without heating it, and with enough energy to create thermal damage to the tumor.
Livesonics product is an integrated imaging and therapeutic device enabling the physician to target the tumor by ultrasound imaging and then radiate it by therapeutic ultrasound while maintaining real time control on the process
The breakthrough in technology was obtained. Ex vivo proof of concept was achieved. The ability to create localized heat increase behind bone without heating it was demonstrated.
The company is exploring opportunities for strategic partnership with a globally established company in the medical devices arena.