Reinforcing its commitment to researchers and clinicians, GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) is showcasing a comprehensive molecular imaging portfolio—encompassing tracer development, pre-clinical imaging and highly advanced imaging equipment— to provide insight into the origins of disease, at the World Molecular Imaging Congress (WMIC), Booth #212, September 8 through 11 in Kyoto, Japan.
“We are committed to providing researchers with the ability to produce tracers, one touch point services, and imaging equipment to discover and understand disease from the beginning.”
"For more than 80 years, GE Healthcare has been a leader in integrating developments in imaging technologies and molecular imaging agents with applications for drug development and clinical translation," said Terri Bresenham, vice president and general manager of GE Healthcare's Molecular Imaging business. "We are committed to providing researchers with the ability to produce tracers, one touch point services, and imaging equipment to discover and understand disease from the beginning."
"Molecular Imaging is reshaping the world of healthcare and creating a revolution in drug development," said Dr. Dae Hyuk Moon, the president of the Korean Society of Molecular Imaging. "We believe the future of patient care will dramatically improve with molecular medicine as molecular biology based therapies are expected to contribute to the optimal utilization of new therapeutic approaches and pharmaceutical development. Molecular Imaging fits with the universal goal of better patient care around the world."
Pre-clinical Imaging
GE Healthcare introduces a new tri-modality pre-clinical imaging system called the Triumph™ ll at WMIC 2010.
The solid state digital imaging system has been upgraded to offer enhanced image quality, and quantitative capabilities, a wider bore size to fit larger animals, higher PET sensitivity, and new SPECT collimators for improved resolution and sensitivity.
Among the advancements is a proprietary fully 3D PET reconstruction algorithm that delivers high quality PET images that are acquired nearly 20 times faster than other systems implementing more conventional methods. This PET technology allows a single system to produce in excess of 20 full body processed scans daily; enabling researchers to review the resulting high quality PET images nearly instantaneously and boost their workflow efficiency. The advanced features of the new Triumph ll are designed to empower researchers to accelerate biomedical discovery and imaging agent development with greater productivity and high quality results.
GE Healthcare is also showcasing eXplore™ speCZT/CT120, an integrated SPECT/CT system. Focusing on high throughput and rapid dynamic imaging, eXplore speCZT, the world's first full-ring, solid-state detector small animal SPECT, and the CT120 X-ray CT system are now combined for seamless dual-modality imaging and fusion. The combined system is equipped with GE Healthcare's new SPECT/CT Attenuation Correction feature providing improved quantitative accuracy in measuring SPECT tracer uptake. The SPECT system utilizes a cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) detector with high-energy resolution to enable dual or triple radionuclide imaging, while eXplore CT120 is equipped with a high power x-ray tube that enables cardiac gating in CT for demanding cardiac molecular imaging experiments as well as high image quality with reduced scan time and dose.
PET Radiopharmacy
Providing biomedical researchers with greater access to solutions for PET imaging agent development, GE Healthcare is Introducing TRACERcenter for Pre-Clinical Imaging, combining site planning, high capacity Cyclotrons, an infrastructure platform, and portfolio of qualified reagents to start up,and run an efficient and powerful pre-clinical imaging center.
A recent addition to the TRACERcenter GMP™ platform of advanced instrumentation, comprehensive documentation and GMP training and consulting services, TRACERcenter 710S™ is a cost effective, upgradeable solution for customers establishing their own infrastructure platform for radiotracer research, production or distribution. The TRACERcenter 710S produces tracers for oncology, and offers customers tracer production possibilities with upgrade packages for neurology and cardiology.
New to WMIC 2010 is an enhanced version of TRACERlab™ FX FN, a widely used generic platform for 18F tracers in particular for researchers. The new product, TRACERlab™ FX N Pro, will be equipped with a second reactor thereby offering even more versatility. The new product will be available later this year.
GE Healthcare is also announcing the expansion of its FASTlab™ platform. FASTlab is a high productivity platform to synthesize PET radiopharmaceuticals for consistent pharmaceutical quality and high yield. In addition to the existing cassettes for 18F-FDG and 18F-NaF, GE Healthcare is introducing cassettes for 18F-FLT and 18F-FMISO in 2011. In addition, the company is offering an alternative FDG cassette that will utilize the widely used synthesis method of the TRACERlab MX system.
Building upon GE Healthcare's legacy in radiopharmaceuticals and chemistry, PETtrace 880™ joins the company's PETtrace family of cyclotrons. The PETtrace 880 offers greater power and record reliability, combined with increased production capacity and tracer portfolio, allowing customers to establish, upgrade and operate their own comprehensive research or clinical PET tracer production center with confidence.
PET/CT