Janney Montgomery Scott appointed to raise U.S. Venture Capital round
Boston, MA. and Perth, Australia – Global bio-nanotech company pSivida Limited (NASDAQ:PSDV, ASX:PSD, Xetra:PSI) is pleased to announce that its wholly owned US subsidiary, AION Diagnostics Inc. has discovered a novel new property to its nanotechnology platform, BioSiliconTM. The biomaterial has been shown to be effectively visualized on four key imaging modalities; x-ray, ultrasound, CT and MRI. This discovery could eventually lead to AION Diagnostics being competitively positioned in the multi-billion dollar imaging agent market.
“The discovery of BioSilicon’sTM unique property in imaging has identified a key competitive advantage since previously only combinations of materials could achieve these properties,” said Dr. Anna Kluczewska, President and Chief Executive Officer of AION Diagnostics Inc. “The discovery marks an important milestone in AION’S development and the imaging sector as a whole by bringing new properties of nanomaterials to diagnosis and preventative medicine”.
AION’s strategy includes spinning off early-to-revenue products while developing its molecular imaging product line. This discovery allows AION to begin development in the following areas:
Tissue Marker Products
AION’s Tissue Marker portfolio of potential products is expected to be used for marking of biopsy sites and monitoring and guiding cancer therapeutic regimes. Advantages of this BioSiliconTM based technology are that the Markers can be visualized by any key imaging modality and that biodegradation time can be engineered to optimize clinical requirements for visualization and spatial enhancement of pathology. The first of these products are expected to be approved in 2008.
The FDA has indicated a 510(K) device registration path to approval for the first Tissue Marker products, with subsequent indications to be filed shortly after. We believe that the unique properties we have discovered allow AION to target multiple indications and product areas with a single formulation,” says Dr. Kluczewska.
Contrast Agent Products
AION is also developing the next generation of contrast agents based on the BioSiliconTM platform with the aim of creating a novel, safe and cost effective multi-modality contrast agent. Drawing from the Tissue Marker data and expected registration, the contrast agent will target the contrast media market which, with the inclusion of radiopharmaceuticals, accounted for US$2.4 billion in sales in the U.S. alone.
AION is exploring the use of BioSilicon™ as a novel, simple to use contrast agent in expanding imaging technologies such as ultrasound contrast and hybrid imaging systems, where the advantage of having a single contrast agent is paramount. BioSiliconTM contrast agents also have the potential to allow for image fusion and multi-modality diagnostics.
Molecular Imaging
BioSilicon’sTM ability to be bound or loaded with a variety of different compounds is well established and AION intends to leverage its imaging capabilities with single and multiple compound loading for highly sensitive and specific diagnosis of very early stage disease.
“Our goal is to develop a suite of molecular imaging products for targeted imaging of pathology at its earliest stages of development, thus preventing disease progression and life-threatening events,” said Dr. Kluczewska. “AION’s development strategy aims to target the high-end Molecular Imaging markets, concurrently mitigating risk and bringing in early revenue from its earlier products. In effect, the multi-modality imaging property is exploited in existing market sectors during development of the molecular imaging product portfolio,” said Dr. Kluczewska.
Capital Raising
AION has appointed Janney Montgomery Scott, one of America’s oldest and most established investment companies, to manage the venture capital round in the U.S. providing funding for AION’s next stage of development.
PSD Price at posting:
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