Summary
A bioRxiv preprint describes SpiraMed, a helical catheter designed to deliver therapies across a brain target through one access path per target. Testing in phantoms, sheep and cadaveric human brain reported improved coverage and reduced reflux, but the work is preclinical.
A bioRxiv preprint describes SpiraMed, a helical catheter intended to deliver advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) to brain tissue through one access trajectory per target. Its authors report testing the device in agarose phantoms, live sheep and cadaveric human brain, with improved delivery volume, speed and target coverage compared with the approach used as a comparator in their tests.
The findings are preclinical: the reported human-brain work used cadaver tissue, not patients receiving treatment. The abstract describes the direction of the results but does not give sample sizes or numerical effect estimates.
How the helical delivery system works
Stereotactic procedures use imaging and precise positioning to guide instruments to a defined location in the brain. The preprint describes needle-based delivery as the standard approach for local administration of ATMPs, which include cell and gene therapies. Reaching a target can require multiple trajectories; the authors note that these can add to surgical time and cumulative risk. Therapy can also flow back along the delivery path—a problem known as reflux—and leave parts of a target unevenly covered.
SpiraMed uses a catheter with a helical delivery section. As therapy is delivered, the helix is retracted in synchrony with the flow, distributing material across the target from a single access trajectory. The authors say the helix’s pitch and diameter can be tailored during preoperative stereotactic planning to the intended target volume and nearby vascular anatomy. They describe delivery across the target as taking seconds.
What the preclinical tests reported
The team tested SpiraMed in agarose phantoms, live sheep and cadaveric human brain. Across these settings, the abstract reports greater therapy-delivery volume, faster delivery and more comprehensive target coverage. It also reports less reflux and a reduction in the predicted risk of a bleeding complication. That bleeding result is a prediction reported by the researchers, rather than a measured rate of complications in treated patients.
These results address a practical challenge in local brain therapy: getting a treatment distributed across a defined volume while limiting the number of access paths. If the approach performs as intended in clinical settings, a single trajectory per target could simplify delivery for therapies that need to reach a particular brain region. The preclinical tests do not yet establish how well it will work in people receiving treatment.
The preprint’s competing-interest statement says a UK priority patent application covering the device and method was filed by Cambridge Enterprise on behalf of the University of Cambridge in August 2024. It also says Cambridge Enterprise is responsible for commercialisation of SpiraMed.