announcement- new diagnostics

I'm liking the sound of this.....exciting times ahead for Psivida.....Bring on the trials!!

Drewe.

ASX RELEASE 24 November 2003
pSivida signs Licensing Agreement over Porous Silicon Mirror Technology for Diagnostic Applications
pSivida Limited (ASX: PSD), is pleased to announce that it has signed a Licensing Agreement with German research agency Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH (“Forschungszentrum”), to acquire rights in the use of Porous Silicon Mirror technology.
Forschungszentrum is part of the Helmholtz Association of National Research Centres, Germany’s largest research institute with an annual budget of approximately 2.1 billion euro (A$3.4 billion). Forschungszentrum has invented and developed a porous silicon optical mirror which pSivida intends to commercialise in healthcare using its newly acquired BioSiliconTM diagnostic technology from pSiMedica.
pSivida has recently secured exclusive rights from pSiMedica to develop and commercialise a wide range of diagnostic applications utilising BioSiliconTM and this agreement with Forschungszentrum is an important step towards facilitating the development the company’s first diagnostic product.
BioSilicon™ mirrors are the first biodegradable surfaces to be created and are intended to dissolve safely in the body over a period of time. The mirrors consist of tiny speck like particles of silicon, much smaller than a pin-head, etched with a nanoscale pattern of pores making them extremely good at reflecting light.
Through the application of a selective tumour detection antibody on the mirror, this technology will lead to the development of early stage detection and monitoring devices for diseases such as cancer.
Many cancers, like prostate and colorectal, release certain chemical markers into the bloodstream as they progress and these markers are used to detect the development of the disease by hospitals and pathology laboratories. By placing porous silicon mirror particles under the skin that change their reflectivity as the cancer marker builds up in the blood stream, the presence or re-emergence of the cancer can be detected at an early stage.
A simple hand held detector would be used to fire a low-powered laser beam through the skin and onto the silicon mirrors to measure any change in the reflectivity of the light therefore indicating the presence of the disease.
Concept studies using animal models are planned to commence in early 2004.
pSivida Managing Director, Mr Gavin Rezos said, “We are extremely pleased that pSivida has been able to secure rights to use this technology from the optical and electronics fields to combine with its BioSiliconTM technology. It provides the company with an opportunity to develop its first diagnostic product in what is a rapidly growing market. The ability to have a cheap, efficient and biodegradable device providing both early detection of disease and immediate feedback is very exciting.”
The terms of the License Agreement with Forschungszentrum remain commercial in confidence.
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