ANN ARBOR, Michigan, April 27, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- MIR Preclinical Services (MIR), a Michigan-based Contract Research Organization (CRO), and Gamma Medica, Inc. (GMI), a California-based manufacturer of clinical and pre-clinical imaging systems, today announced that the companies have formed an alliance to broaden expertise and exploit synergies.
"MIR Preclinical Services is establishing itself as an innovator in the application of imaging technologies to facilitate cancer drug discovery," stated W. R. Leopold, Ph.D., president of MIR. "We have been seeking ways to broaden the technologies we offer our clients. GMI excels in bringing breakthrough technology to market, including the first and only in-line PET/CT system for pre-clinical imaging. Our alliance with GMI will help MIR remain on the cutting edge of critical imaging technologies, and allow us to offer our clients otherwise unavailable services. We are looking forward to our collaboration with GMI to further advance the field of preclinical imaging."
"We are pleased to form this partnership with MIR Pre-Clinical Services," said Patrick Moody, GMI's Vice President of Marketing. "We look forward to helping Dr. Leopold and his team deliver breakthrough, high-quality research services to MIR clients using our FLEX(tm) Pre-Clinical Imaging system."
About MIR Preclinical Services
MIR is a CRO specializing in the preclinical evaluation of novel anti-tumor agents. The company boasts management with over 60 years of major pharmaceutical cancer drug discovery experience. It is a leader in the integration of traditional anti-cancer efficacy testing with clinically relevant imaging services to provide new insights to drug discovery and development. MIR offers a wide array of tumor models including human tumor xenograft, syngeneic, and transgenic tumor models. The company is unique in its ability to apply state of the art non-invasive imaging modalities including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), X-ray micro-CT and soon, high resolution small animal PET, to visualize biological processes such as signal transduction, apoptosis and angiogenesis. MIR's mission is to provide its clients with an integrated, non-invasive correlation of efficacy with pharmacodynamics (mechanisms of action) directly applicable to clinical trial.
About Gamma Medica
Gamma Medica, Inc., Northridge, CA, designs, develops and manufactures next-generation integrated imaging systems for both clinical and pre-clinical applications. The company invented MicroSPECT(r), and its X-SPECT(r) system is the market leader in the small animal SPECT category. Gamma Medica's X-PET(tm) system has the highest sensitivity and largest axial field of view among small animal PET systems. The company's X-O(tm) system is a standalone micro-CT device that can perform full body scans on a wide range of test subjects in less than a minute, making it one of the fastest such systems in the industry. All three systems share a common gantry and are part of the company's FLEX(tm) platform of pre-clinical imaging systems. Any two systems can be combined in the common gantry, as can all three. Gamma Medica's pre-clinical imaging systems are used by medical researchers and drug companies that use in-vivo imaging techniques and molecular markers to dramatically speed up studies of disease progression and therapy. More information can be found by visiting www.gammamedica.com.