The Jerusalem Startup Developing a Breakthrough Therapy for Liver Cancer

The number of liver cancer patients is rising sharply, and the disease is growing into one of the most urgent global health challenges of our time.
Liver cancer carries particularly low survival rates across all stages of diagnosis. Fewer than half of all patients survive beyond two years, with only 22 percent of patients diagnosed with the disease living past five years.

BDUK Therapeutics, a young Israeli company based in Jerusalem, is bringing new ways of thinking to the treatment of liver cancer and working to significantly improve the outcomes of patients diagnosed
with the disease.

Founded at the end of 2024, the company is developing a new approach that delivers medicine directly to cancerous tumors, improving treatment effectiveness while meaningfully reducing side effects.

Behind the company are two entrepreneurs: Dr. Walter Wasser, CEO, an internist with decades of clinical experience and patient care, and Dr. Yaron Suissa, COO, a biochemist with an MBA in Finance and Business Strategy. Dr. Wasser is a specialist in nephrology who founded a medical company in New York, navigated it to a successful exit, and then made aliyah to Israel with his family. Dr. Suissa brings years of experience in biotech, bridging the gap between science, operations, and business, and has held senior management roles in R&D, business development, and operations.

Together, they are leading the development of an innovation born in the academia that now aims to serve a significant need in the treatment of liver cancer.
The scientist at the heart of that technology is Prof. Ofra Benny, the company's chief scientific advisor. Prof. Benny, a full professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is a leading researcher in drug nanotechnology, tumor microenvironments, and bioengineering.

The Problem: A Standard of Care With a Design Flaw
"Our goal is to get the most out of cancer treatment and make it notably more effective," said Dr. Wasser. "Once we see clinical data supporting our drug delivery system we have the opportunity to take it into similar treatment paradigms, where a more direct interface between the disease and medicine leads to better outcomes and less adverse effects."

For patients with intermediate-stage liver cancer — who are not candidates for surgery, but not yet beyond using therapies — the global standard of care has remained stagnant for decades. It's called Transarterial chemoembolization or TACE .TACE requires a catheter navigated to the major liver artery, and then used to inject beads mixed with chemotherapy directly into the artery feeding the tumor. The beads block the vessel, and thus prevent the tumor from receiving blood meant to create a tumor-localized therapy, reducing tumor size. Unfortunately, this therapy has low efficacy and severe adverse effects.

This decades-long, static practice of treating liver cancer causes a full blockage of blood to the tumor and portions of the liver as well.Consequently blood can't make it to the tumor and neither can the drugs aimed to kill the tumor. Even worse, the biologic processes involved can even perversely cause tumor growth."

The Solution: Smart Porous Microspheres with Controlled Drugs Release
The product BDUK is developing is based on unique microspheres - tiny beads with a porous structure which creates a partial obstruction, allowing gradual drug release and producing controlled, localized oxygen deprivation within the tumor, leaving the cancer significantly more
exposed to prolonged chemotherapy.

"The central change is not just in the material — it is in the concept," emphasizes Dr. Wasser. "Instead of 'blocking' the blood vessel, we allow a controlled flow delivering the drug precisely where it is needed."

Approximately one million microscopic perforated beads are injected via catheter, forming a partial barrier that sustains localized drug delivery for approximately two weeks. The investigative therapy has three components. The first is the bead skeleton, which encases two anti-cancer drugs. It is made of a material that degrades through hydrolysis - a process that is accelerated by the tumor's more acidic environment. The beads degradation profile is first rapidly to provide therapeutic dose and then slowly over approximately 14 days, enabling precise, sustained drug delivery into the tumor.

The second component is doxorubicin, an FDA-approved chemotherapy agent widely used in liver cancer treatment. The third is tirapazamine, a hypoxia-activated drug studied in liver cancer models and early-phase clinical trials. It is uniquely activated only in low oxygen, making it highly specific to the oxygen-depleted tumor microenvironment while sparing healthy surrounding tissue. As the beads degrade, the precise ratio of both drugs is preserved, enabling therapeutic synergy and targeted destruction of the tumor.

"We have created a system in which the drugs are released only in the right place, at the right time, at the optimal environment and ratio to destroy the tumor," explains Dr. Suissa. "This increases effectiveness while reducing damage to healthy tissue."

Higher Effectiveness, Fewer Side Effects
A key advantage of the therapy is its duration of action. "Where existing treatments operate for a few hours, our design enables drug release for approximately two weeks," says Dr. Wasser. "We are talking about continuously exposing the tumor to the chemotherapy, not just a single hit. We expect this will make a dramatic difference in tumoricidal efficacy."

The temporary nature of blocking the artery, but still letting the medicine flow, also transforms and lessens the side-effect profile.

After approximately 14 days, the microspheres fully dissolve, clearing the artery. "Whereas TACE leaves the artery blocked, BDUK microspheres dissolve and blood flow resumes.," emphasizes Dr. Suissa. "This allows treatment to be repeated using the same vessel."

While BDUK is first testing its porous microspheres in liver cancer, plans
are in place to expand testing to other malignancies. "Any tumor that can be reached via catheter could potentially be treated with this approach," says Dr. Suissa — implying a possible shift from systemic treatments, where the drug disperses throughout the body, to precisely targeted therapies delivered directly into the tumor.

BDUK has completed preclinical work with positive results. The next stage includes large-animal studies, followed by first-in-human trials expected to be conducted at Hadassah Medical Center in Israel.

BDUK's plans are buoyed by international recognition — including the European Innovation Council (EIC) Seal of Excellence and a grant from the Israel Innovation Authority. "Regulation is on our side as well," notes Dr. Wasser. "Liver cancer is classified as an orphan disease, which allows for a faster approval pathway, longer market exclusivity, and strong profitability."

The path, however, has not been without friction. "The war caught us in the middle of investor negotiations," admits Dr. Suissa. "We are continuing to advance — and alongside investors, we are also seeking strategic partners."

Jerusalem, by Way of New York
BDUK is the story of two men from vastly different worlds sharing a goal of using their expertise to fight cancer. "If Walter had not made aliyah, this would not have happened," says Dr. Suissa. "This is a combination of people from different places who came together in Israel to create something new, to help sick patients regain health." Both founders are emphatic about their commitment to continue building the company in Israel.

"There is a remarkable ecosystem of science, medicine, and entrepreneurship in Israel," says Dr. Wasser. "We are part of it. We expect to change the treatment of liver cancer, and open a new era of medicine that is more precise, more effective, and more humane.

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In collaboration with BDUK Therapeutics