# SonALAsense

Source: https://onco.cc/companies/sonalasense/  
OnCo record `sonalasense` (Company). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

SonALAsense is testing sonodynamic therapy, in which patients receive a drug that cancer cells turn into a light-sensitive chemical and then focused ultrasound is beamed through the skull to activate it, killing brain tumour cells without surgery.

## Summary

SonALAsense develops sonodynamic therapy (SDT), a drug-device combination of SONALA-001, an intravenous formulation of aminolevulinic acid (ALA), with MR-guided focused ultrasound. Tumour cells preferentially convert ALA to protoporphyrin IX; ultrasound activation causes oxidative stress and targeted cell death while sparing normal brain. The company states it is the first to bring SDT into clinical trials: a phase 0/1 study in recurrent high-grade glioma at the Ivy Brain Tumor Center showed targeted cell death in human tumour tissue without off-target effects, and a phase 1/2 trial in children with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma is recruiting after FDA Safe to Proceed letters in 2022. In December 2024 ARPA-H committed up to USD 46 million to develop SDT for blood cancers including leukaemia and multiple myeloma. The company has raised more than USD 20 million from accredited investors and completed an undisclosed Series B in 2022.

## Fields

- Kind: Company
- Last checked: 2026-09-10
- HQ: Oakland, CA
- Type: devices
- Website: https://www.sonalasense.com/

## Notes

- The caller's hint of Berkeley was not confirmed; the June 2022 release is datelined Oakland, CA and the site gives only a 510 area code phone number. Sonodynamic therapy has no exact technology id; hifu-histotripsy is used for the focused ultrasound device and the ALA mechanism is described in the summary (the protoporphyrin IX detail is general knowledge). Series B amount and other investor names are undisclosed. Founding year not stated. 'radiation' and 'surgery' sections are included as the closest fronts for a non-invasive ablative therapy.

## Sources

- Official website: https://www.sonalasense.com/
- ARPA-H award announcement (Dec 2024): https://arpa-h.gov/news-and-events/arpa-h-funds-project-revolutionize-cancer-therapy-ultrasound-based-approach
- Clinical, growth and Series B milestones (June 2022): https://www.sonalasense.com/news/sonalasense-achieves-significant-clinical%2C-growth-and-funding-milestones-toward-its-mission-to-soundly-defeat-cancer
- For investors: https://www.sonalasense.com/for-investors

## Connected records

- cancers: [Acute myeloid leukaemia](https://onco.cc/cancers/aml/), [Glioma & glioblastoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/glioblastoma/), [Multiple myeloma](https://onco.cc/cancers/multiple-myeloma/)
- fronts: [Devices & Physical Therapies](https://onco.cc/fronts/devices/), [Radiation Therapy](https://onco.cc/fronts/radiation/), [Surgery & Interventional](https://onco.cc/fronts/surgery/)
- technologies: [Focused ultrasound & histotripsy](https://onco.cc/technologies/hifu-histotripsy/), [MRI](https://onco.cc/technologies/mri/)
- roadmaps: [Devices and physical therapies roadmap: heat and light → electric fields and focused sound → drug-releasing implants](https://onco.cc/roadmaps/devices-roadmap/)

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