Redefining drug delivery: the ultrasound revolution in healthcare
Page date: Published 25 Jun 2024; updated 26 Aug 2026. 5 min read.
The article describes ultrasound-assisted drug delivery as a way to target therapies that have difficulty crossing biological barriers, including the dense tumour microenvironment in pancreatic cancer. In the approach described, microbubbles are injected with a therapy and exposed to focused ultrasound; their oscillation temporarily affects blood-vessel walls, allowing more drug to enter nearby tissue. The article says the effect is localized to the treated area and microbubbles remain in circulation for about five minutes.
Norwegian company EXACT Therapeutics has developed Acoustic Cluster Therapy (ACT). The article reports promising preclinical pancreatic-cancer results and says a Phase II study combining ACT with standard care was being prepared. It also reports that a first part of a Phase I trial at London’s Royal Marsden Hospital found liver tumours treated with ACT and chemotherapy shrank more than ten times as much as those without ACT. These are company/publisher descriptions of research-stage results, not evidence of established clinical efficacy or an individual treatment recommendation; the status described is dated to the article.
Other examples include Carthera and Cordance Medical developing ultrasound devices intended to help therapies cross the blood-brain barrier, and a Novo Nordisk–GE Healthcare collaboration exploring ultrasound for pancreatic islet cells in diabetes treatment. The article says the field had advanced from proof-of-concept research toward Phase II trials, while emphasizing it is an emerging area.
The piece is part of “The global reach of Norwegian ultrasound innovation,” with six linked companion stories covering Norwegian ultrasound history, commercialization and contrast agents. Contact for stories: Masha Strømme, Masha@exact-tx.com. References include peer-reviewed articles, ClinicalTrials.gov, and a 2023 Wall Street Journal article.
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