A Diagnostics & Imaging Week

The Molecular Imaging division of Siemens Medical Solutions (SMS; Hoffman Estates, Illinois), a provider of molecular imaging equipment, molecular imaging tracers and services, reported an agreement with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals (Madison, New Jersey), a division of Wyeth, to use SMS’ new research imaging agent in Wyeth’s clinical studies of new Alzheimer’s disease therapies under development.

Molecular imaging techniques, such as positron emission tomography, use imaging agents to non-invasively characterize metabolic activity in cells by visually “lighting up” energy consuming cells to visualize and quantify the biology of diseases.

SMS’ new Alzheimer’s imaging agent — FDA-cleared to begin Phase I clinical trials — is designed to work differently by specifically seeking out and identifying the accumulation of amyloid plaques and neuronal tangles in the brain — the hallmarks of the disease that cause cell disruption and death. The imaging agent could enable doctors to identify the areas of the brain affected by amyloid plaque deposition and neuronal tangle formation, and also differentiate it from other neurological diseases — a first in the imaging of neurological disorders, the company said.

In other agreements:

• iCAD (Nashua, New Hampshire), a provider of computer-aided detection (CAD) solutions for the early identification of cancer, reported the integration of technology developed and licensed from the National Institutes of Health, into the company’s emergent colon CAD product line.

Under a licensing agreement, iCAD has incorporated polyp detection technology, developed at the NIH, into iCAD product offerings in the field of CT Colonography (CTC) now under development.

CTC, also known as “virtual colonoscopy,” uses a CT scanner to examine the colon using a ‘scope, without sedating the patient as with a conventional colonoscopy. Specialized software displays the images, producing cross section views of the internal surface of the colon, delivering images that enable the early detection and identification of polyps, the company said.

• Biosite (San Diego) reported the addition of McKesson (San Francisco) to its distributor network.

Biosite’s product offering for physicians treating outpatients is the Triage BNP Test, designed to aid in the diagnosis and assessment of heart failure and in the risk stratification of patients with acute coronary syndromes and/or heart failure.

• Aethlon Medical (San Diego), a developer of therapeutic devices for infectious disease, reported a research collaboration with The Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research (SFBR; San Antonio) to study the Aethlon Hemopurifier as a potential treatment for Lassa Fever.

Lassa Fever is classified a category A bioterror threat in the U.S., and is an endemic viral condition in Africa. Category A bioterror threats are defined by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC; Atlanta) as agents that pose a risk to national security; are easily disseminated or transmitted from person to person; result in high mortality rates; could cause public panic and social disruption, and require special action for public health preparedness.

In addition to this collaboration, Aethlon initiated Hemopurifier studies with researchers at both the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta) and The United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in January, and entered into a research partnership with the Government of India in December. Data obtained in these studies will be included in submissions with FDA and other government agencies.

Aethlon decribes the Hemopurifier as a broad-spectrum treatment countermeasure against drug and vaccine resistant bioweapons, naturally evolving pandemic threats, and chronic infectious disease targets including Hepatitis-C and the Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

• VisEn Medical (Woburn, Massachusetts) reported the launch of a multi-year joint R&D program with Merck & Co. (Whitehouse, New Jersey) to develop a range of fluorescence imaging agents for real-time imaging of disease biomarkers in vivo.

The Merck-VisEn Biomarker Imaging Program will focus on literature-derived and proprietary biomarkers of cardiovascular disease. Agents developed through the collaboration will be used as in vivo imaging tools for measuring disease progression and therapeutic response in Merck’s discovery programs and be further commercialized by VisEn to more broadly set imaging standards.

The agreement expands existing collaboration between the companies, in disease area imaging and data development within Merck drug discovery programs. The programs will utilize VisEn fluorescence agents and fluorescence molecular tomography (FMT) imaging systems.

VisEn developes fluorescence molecular imaging technology platforms.

• IRIS International (Chatsworth, California) reported that it has signed a 40-month agreement with Premier Purchasing Partners, a unit of Premier (San Diego), for its iQ200 Automated Urine Microscopy Analyzer and Systems, and has expanded its relationship to include IRIS’ entire in vitro diagnostics product line.

The contract, effective April 1, is for the full iQ200 product line, including Sprint, Elite, and Select units, along with iQ Body Fluids Modules, the iChem100 Semi-Automated Urine Chemistry Analyzers, vChem Visual Read Urine Test Strips and service agreements.

IRIS makes devices, diagnostic systems and consumables.