uCure TAURUS Treatment System

A urethral stricture is a fibrotic narrowing of the urethra, which acts like a tough scar tissue and leads to voiding complications. With symptoms including frequent and painful urination, penile inflammation, increased risk of urinary tract infection, and even renal failure if not treated early enough, its ramifications have serious impacts on the quality of life for affected men across the globe.

Existing options for patients fall into two buckets: effective invasive open surgery (urethroplasty), and minimally invasive procedures (dilation, urethrotomy, or self -catheterization) with subpar outcomes. Patients typically begin with a minimally invasive treatment such as dilation or urethrotomy, (~160,000 performed annually in the U.S. alone). These often end up with a recurrence, as rates of recurrence average at 70%, and are as high as 91% for a repeat procedure. Although the gold standard treatment, urethroplasty, is suggested if they experience a recurrence, many undergo repeat ineffective treatments to avoid open surgery. This cycle not only aggravates the patient’s condition but is also economically inefficient to the health care system.

uCure is developing TAURUS, a minimally invasive tool for the treatment of urethral strictures. It allows transurethral delivery and fixation of an autologous graft which widens the urethra and promotes healthy epithelialization and healing, resulting in improved urine flow. TAURUS bridges the best of both worlds, by empowering urologists to treat strictures with greater efficacy and durability than current minimally invasive options (urethral dilation – mechanically widening the stricture, and urethrotomy – cutting the stricture), without the need for more invasive, open surgery and the associated risks. The use of a graft provides the benefits of urethral reconstruction, which is recognized to have significantly reduced stricture recurrence relative to the existing minimally invasive approaches. Minimal invasiveness makes our system less morbid than surgery and preferable to patients, and enables frontline urologists to deliver a durable, effective treatment option.

Our team has conducted preliminary tests in situ, and are performing preliminary tests in live animals to refine our device specifications. We expect to begin our formal ACUC approved rabbit study in the next month. The results of our rabbit study will inform our design and development of a dog study for transition to human scale. Through these activities, our team will be better positioned to develop an effective and durable clinical solution for urethral stricture disease, which can impact patients and empower urologists across the world.