Posted: 28 June 2023
Imagion Biosystems Limited (ASX: IBX), a company dedicated to improving healthcare through the earlier detection of cancer, is pleased to announce it has expanded its collaboration agreement with Siemens Healthineers. In addition to extending the existing agreement with Siemens Healthcare Pty Ltd of Australia for an additional two years, the companies have agreed to collaborate in the United States through Siemens Medical Solutions USA.
This U.S. extension is in anticipation of Imagion’s undertaking a multi-site Phase 2 study for the MagSense® HER2 imaging agent. Through the collaboration, Siemens Healthineers will make an in-kind contribution of expertise working with Imagion and Imagion’s clinical advisors and investigators to optimize the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) protocols in anticipation of Imagion’s MagSense® clinical studies, and provide limited technical support to clinical sites. The collaboration in the MagSense® Phase 1 study in Australia has been very valuable and is expected to continue now in this expanded capacity in the United States.
“We have been very pleased with and appreciative of the collaboration with Siemens Healthineers in our Phase 1 study in Australia,” said Bob Proulx, Executive Chairman of Imagion Biosystems. “The company was instrumental in the early stages to help establish the initial MRI protocols that were implemented in our study, and has contributed to ongoing evaluation and optimization to achieve the best data possible for our MagSense® imaging agent in breast cancer patient lymph nodes. This collaboration creates a win-win situation in which Imagion benefits from having access to the Siemens Healthineers MRI research team’s knowledge and expertise, while providing Siemens Healthineers direct visibility to our work to make molecular MRI a reality.”
To date, MRI contrast agents have been general-purpose, improving image resolution by creating contrast at tissue boundaries or within tissue but not providing functional imaging utility. Imagion’s MagSense® imaging agents could enable a first-of-its-kind molecular imaging solution for MRI. By changing current practice in medical imaging to include the sensitive and selective detection of cancer cells without using radiation, Imagion’s technology could significantly improve cancer diagnosis and patient care.
Imagion Biosystems presented its first clinical data for the MagSense® HER2 imaging agent in December 2022 at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. Since then, the company has reported findings from an independent review and its intention to proceed with filing an Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to undertake a multi-site Phase 2 study. This collaboration will support the future studies.
