NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – GE Healthcare said today it has signed an agreement giving the drugmaker Merck access to a molecular imaging agent GE is developing for high-speed, quantitative lung imaging.
The company said the collaborators will evaluate GE Healthcare’s Spin Signal Technology to determine if it can help researchers study the functioning of diseased lungs using modified xenon gas in conjunction with magnetic resonance imaging scans.
The companies will be able to assess the effects of potential therapeutics in real-time in animal models, GE said.
Kim Gallagher, who is head of external scientific affairs in the medical diagnostics division of GE Healthcare, said that the agreement gives Merck access to the SST and to the modified xenon trial data and will “monitor its potential and plan for its possible incorporation in therapy trials.”