Integrated Diagnostics (InDi) declared that it has established InDi Imaging, a new operating division that develops next-generation of PET imaging probes based on InDi’s innovative protein catalyzed capture (PCC) agent technology.
Primarily designed for in vitro molecular diagnostics, PCCs will serve as in vivo diagnostic imaging probes that imitate the properties of biologics and antibodies in PET molecular imaging and also feature synthetic small-molecules with chemically stable capability.
Along with this new launch, the company also declared that Norman Hardman, Ph.D. has been appointed as the president of InDi Imaging. Furthermore, the company reported that it has appointed the inventor of PET, Michael Phelps, Ph.D., as the advisor of InDi Imaging. InDi Dx, the other division of Integrated Diagnostics, will continue to provide vitro diagnostic medicine. The company formulated the first diagnostic blood based protein test for effectively detecting lung cancer in patients having intermediate size pulmonary nodules. This diagnostic test will be commercial launched during the first half of 2013.
The rationally designed PCCs are stable, synthetic chemical compositions having small-molecule like properties, effective for detecting designated motifs on any target protein. The detection is based on chemical diversity in the PCCs for a series of protein targets. PCCs were licensed by InDi from Caltech (California Institute of Technology). The PCC technology is based on inventions led by InDi co-founder and board member, Jim Heath, Ph.D. Under the headship of Paul Kearney, Ph.D., the company's president, the InDi team employs PCCs for in vivo diagnostic imaging applications.
PCCs were created based on ‘click chemistry,’ a process wherein researchers can click the molecular components together. Using unique stability and accuracy, it can achieve high selectivity to the target protein. InDi has earned a license from the Scripps Research Institute to use click chemistry. The company intends carrying out the first human studies of its PCC-based imaging products for another 12 to 18 months.
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