The first idea

Dr. Andreas Jordan, CEO of MagForce Nanotechnologies AG, has worked with physicians at Charité Hospital to improve what were at the time the latest hyperthermia systems since 1987. The problem with the devices that were able to generate heat inside the body by overlayering various electromagnetic fields, was producing sufficient heat inside the tumor. It was only possible to reach the required minimum temperature of 43°C (110°F) in rare cases. However, the side effects in the form of pain, reddened skin or burns on the patient’s skin occurred regularly. Dr. Jordan committed himself to changing this situation. This was how the idea of a new cancer therapy began – known today as Nano-Cancer^® therapy.

Research and Development

The basic idea at that time was to "deposit" the heat in the tumor itself by activating a magnetizable substance from the outside without contact, using an alternating magnetic field. In numerous experiments, Dr. Jordan began to look for the substance which would have the desired attributes. However, it was soon shown that all common substances only reached a significant temperature elevation at very large quantities (in the gram range). This was unthinkable for tumor treatment. After nearly one thousand experiments with substances from all over the world, a new sample from Japan was tested. When the alternating magnetic field was switched on, it only took a few seconds for the tube to burst due to the enormous heat production. The substance contained nanoparticles of iron oxide with a sugar coating. An important milestone had been reached.

In further tests, Dr. Jordan determined that the reason for the much higher heat production was the nano-scale of the particles, which heat up via a completely different mechanism than that of micrometer-sized particles. While large particles heat by the commonly known hysteresis, the magnetic excitation of nanoparticles takes place via so-called relaxation processes in which both the alternating magnetizations in the iron oxide core and the interactions of the coating play a significant role. The groundbreaking article about this, which included a description of the new mechanism and of the "therapeutic window" of magnetic alternating fields for the human body, was published in 1993 in the International Journal of Hyperthermia. For the first time, the realization of a magnetism-based form of heat therapy had become realistically possible. Research, which had been solely focused on the physics of the technique, was now continued with a focus on the biology to prove the effectiveness of the method. Various alternating magnetic field applicators were produced to research cells and animals under suitable, reproducible conditions.

Pre-clinical Phase

With the sugar-coated particles and direct injection of the particles into the tumor tissue, effectiveness was finally proven in the C3H mammary carcinoma in mice. With a therapy duration of 30 minutes and an obtained temperature of 47°C (117°F), nearly every second mouse was healed of the tumor. However, it was shown in the beginning that the nanoparticles did not spread evenly through the tissues, with the consequence that areas with fewer particles heated up less, so that the tumor growth was not able to be completely stopped. But with repeated heat therapy, it was observed that the nanoparticles were able to penetrate deeper and deeper into the tumorous tissues. Every additional heating process produced a type of "self-homogenization" of the nanoparticle distribution in the tumor. This effect, which was being described for the first time, was then published together with the therapeutic results for the C3H mammary carcinoma in mice as the "thermal bystander effect" in the International Journal of Hyperthermia in 1996 and 1997. Today, we know that this spread of the nanoparticles stops precisely at the border between the tumorous and normal tissues because the higher level of differentiation and the denser tissue structure of normal tissues in contrast to the heterogeneous imperfect tumor tissue structure do not permit the further spread of the particles.

Parallel to the biological work, Jordan also worked — on the basis of the many experimental structures for the animal tests — on developing an alternating magnetic field therapy system which would later be used to treat patients. In order to finance the entire enterprise, in 1997 Jordan founded "MFH Hyperthermiesysteme GmbH" with venture capital. While the research on basic principles was largely funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Association) as part of a special project, MFH Hyperthermiesysteme was involved specifically in product development. At the end of 2002, the first magnetic field therapy system in the world — MFH®-300F — received its authorization for clinical testing.

Parallel to the development of the therapeutic system, the further development of the nanoparticles continued. In his search for new nanoparticles, Jordan started working with the Institut für Neue Materialien (INM = Institute for New Materials) in Saarbrücken in the mid-nineties. The first samples submitted by the INM also included a type which exhibited completely surprising properties. The nanoparticles, which were coated with aminosilane, were absorbed into the tumor cells by the millions, something which had never been observed before. This new knowledge was published in the Journal of Magnetics and Magnetic Materials in 1999.

Clinical Phase

To bring the second component of the new cancer therapy procedure into a state of product readiness, Jordan founded MagForce Applications GmbH in 2000 for the production of specific nanoparticles for the new cancer therapy. As a starting package, Jordan acquired three licenses for internationally registered composition-of-matter patents assigned to INM. In 2005, he added three more new international patents assigned to MagForce Applications GmbH and two new MagForce Nanotechnologies AG patent applications. Equipped with the licensed patents, the independent development of iron oxide nanoparticles began within the company with the founding of MagForce. Parallel to this industrial research, the MagForce nanoparticle formulations were examined for tolerance and toxicity by external, certified laboratories. After all regulations of the German medical products act had been met and in-house production had been built up, MagForce started the clinical marketing authorization process for its Nano-Cancer^® therapy in early 2003. In 2001, MFH Magnetic Fluid Hyperthermia GmbH was founded as a joint marketing platform for the two subsidiaries, MFH Hyperthermiesysteme GmbH and MagForce Applications GmbH.

To ensure further development and bring the technology into a state of market readiness, new venture capital had to be added. In June 2004, the Frankfurt investment company Nanostart AG entered into a majority participation in the company. MFH Magnetic Fluid Hyperthermia GmbH was renamed to MagForce Nanotechnologies GmbH, and the two companies founded earlier were unified into MagForce. In October 2005, MagForce Nanotechnologies was incorporated.