EXACT Therapeutics AS and the Phoenix-based Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), part of City of Hope, announced the publication of a paper in the peer-reviewed Journal of Controlled Release titled "Effect of Acoustic Cluster Therapy combined with chemotherapy in a mouse model of pancreatic cancer". This study was partly funded by a grant from Innovation Norway. The ACT® technology is based on microclusters of microbubble-microdroplets and when sonicated, vaporisation of the microdroplets lead to the formation of larger ACT® bubbles.

The formation and subsequent oscillation of the ACT® bubbles in the microvasculature produces mechanical bio-effects that enhance drug delivery and efficacy. TGen have evaluated the effectiveness of the technology in a preclinical pancreatic cancer model, and the results demonstrated that ACT® significantly improved the therapeutic efficacy of two cornerstone treatment regimens in the management of pancreatic cancer. The best effect was seen when drug administration preceded the ACT® treatment, but interestingly the anti-tumour effect was almost maintained when the drugs were administered after ACT®-treatment was finalized.

Similar observations have been made in previous work with ACT® combined with chemotherapy. This suggests that the main effect of ACT® is not on the drug itself, but rather affects the vasculature and tumour microenvironment to facilitate drug delivery and therapeutic response.