Imagion to present prostate cancer research data at World Molecular Imaging Congress
- MagSense® molecular imaging agent shows high specificity and selectivity
MELBOURNE — Imagion Biosystems Limited (ASX: IBX), a company dedicated to improving healthcare through the earlier detection of cancer, is pleased to announce it will be presenting its most recent research data related to the Company’s prostate cancer imaging agent at the 2022 World Molecular Imaging Congress being held in Miami, FL Sep 28 – Oct 1.
The preclinical results being presented provide strong evidence that the Company’s magnetic nanoparticle technology has the potential to target prostate cancer tumours expressing the Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA) with high specificity and is detectable by both MRI and the Company’s proprietary magnetic relaxometry technology. The research supports MagSense® targeted particles are detectable in low, medium, and high expressing prostate cancer cells compared to non-targeted controls and that the targeted particles accumulate preferentially in tissues expressing PSMA and not in other vital organs like the heart or lungs. Further studies will be needed to define lower limits of detection. The data being presented follow from the initial work supported by a CSIRO Innovations Connections grant.
“These data are very encouraging”, said Bob Proulx, CEO. “With our MagSense® HER2 imaging agent for breast cancer advancing in clinical testing, we have been expanding our R&D pipeline. The results being presented this week at the WMIC provide strong support for us to continue the development of a MagSense® imaging agent for prostate cancer. The lack of specificity of standard PSA blood testing for identifying malignant prostate cancer results in an unnecessarily large number of prostate biopsies being performed, wasting > $1 billion in costs and associated morbidity, including risk of erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence.
“Knowing we have imaging agent that can work with multiple forms of magnetic imaging and does not use radioactivity will address the large unmet need of making non-invasive detection of prostate cancer more accessible and affordable and could reduce the need for prostate biopsies for many men, saving costs and improving patient care.”
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men with approximately $6.2 Billion spent annually on prostate cancer diagnosis. The Australian Institute for Health and Welfare now shows prostate cancer to be the most common type of cancer in Australia, overtaking breast cancer. Recently PSMA targeting molecules have been approved for use with PET tracers for the detection of prostate cancer metastases. Imagion’s MagSense® imaging agent leverages the same molecular target but avoids the use of radioactive tracers and will provide a safer alternative for the non-invasive detection of prostate cancer.
“The fact remains that if prostate cancer is detected accurately before it spreads, it can be effectively managed and treated …” – Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia.
The work will be presented by Dr. Marie Zhang, VP of Research and Pre-Clinical Development at Imagion Biosystems, and can be found here: https://info.imagionbio.com/wmic-2022-poster-request. The WMIC is the premier forum for scientists and clinicians focused on cutting-edge advances in molecular imaging.
About Imagion Biosystems
Imagion Biosystems is developing a new non-radioactive and safe diagnostic imaging technology. Combining biotechnology and nanotechnology, the Company aims to detect cancer and other diseases earlier and with higher specificity than is currently possible. Imagion Biosystems listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in June 2017.
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