Lightpoint Medical signs exclusive global license agreement with UA for Beta Emission Tomography

Lightpoint Medical, a clinical-stage medical device company developing advanced imaging technologies for intraoperative cancer detection, announced today that the company has signed an exclusive global license agreement for a molecular imaging technology called Beta Emission Tomography, developed by Professor Harrison Barrett, Regents Professor of Radiology and Optical Science, with his student Yijun Ding and colleague Dr. Luca Caucci at the University of Arizona Center for Gamma Ray Imaging.

Today, Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging is used in many hospitals to diagnose and stage cancer but is not available in operating rooms. Lightpoint Medical's strategy is to bring the power of PET imaging into the operating room to guide cancer surgery in real time.

Recently, Professor Barrett and his team have developed a completely novel approach to PET imaging that enables the miniaturization of a PET scanner to bring the technology into the operating room. The invention will now be incorporated into Lightpoint Medical's product for image-guided cancer surgery.

The licensing process was facilitated by Tech Launch Arizona, the office of the UA that commercializes inventions stemming from University research.

"Dr. Barrett's work in imaging technology represents a great advance in imaging for cancer surgery," says Doug Hockstad, senior director of technology transfer for Tech Launch Arizona. "This collaboration with Lightpoint is an ideal way to move this important work from the world of research out to where it can directly impact patient care."

Dr David Tuch, CEO of Lightpoint Medical, said "We are delighted to be entering this partnership with the University of Arizona Center for Gamma Ray Imaging which has an extraordinary track-record for innovation in molecular imaging instrumentation. The beta emission tomography technology has significant promise in the field of intraoperative imaging, and will support our aim to bring highly informative PET imaging into the operating room during surgery for many different types of cancer."