OmniCorder Technologies Installs BioScanIR System at Leading German Cancer Center; Addition of The German Cancer Research Center Expands Commercial Pilot Program for Company's Groundbreaking Medical Imaging System
EAST SETAUKET, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 18, 2004-- OmniCorder Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB Symbol: PMOS.OB - News) today announced that the company has installed its BioScanIR® System at the Deutsche Krebsforschungszentrum Heidelberg (DKFZ or The German Cancer Research Center), Germany's leading cancer research center. Professor Hans-Ulrich Kauczor, Head of Radiology at the DKFZ, and a team of radiologists and oncologists will employ the BioScanIR® System to monitor the clinical and pre-clinical activity of certain cancer treatment protocols.
Prof. Kauczor, describing some of the applications in which the DKFZ will use the BioScanIR® System to advance their cancer research and treatment protocols, said, "We want to generate maps of perfusion which will serve as a surrogate for metabolic changes in cancer with regard to the tumor itself as well as generalized effects on metabolism. After having taken measurements in the volunteers, the system will be used for pre-clinical investigations and human studies looking at patients with disseminated tumors."
OmniCorder initiated its commercial pilot program last year following several peer reviewed published reports about the BioScanIR® System's capabilities. Studies conducted by leading oncologists and radiologists from Harvard's Dana Farber Cancer Institute have been presented at major medical meetings and published in peer review journals. Most recently, an article favorably comparing the BioScanIR® System to CT, Ga-67 and FDG-PET imaging to depict tumor masses in lymphoma patients for staging and therapy monitoring was published in the December 2003 issue of "Technology in Cancer Research and Treatment" (TCRT). These researchers concluded that the BioScanIR® System can distinguish and localize lymphoma from adjacent healthy tissues, and identify some characteristic patterns that may allow the monitoring of patients with lymphoma undergoing therapy.
Commenting on this new commercial pilot site, Mark A. Fauci, OmniCorder Technologies' Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "The researchers and the clinicians at DKFZ are considered among the best and most innovative in the world. We expect that they will gain valuable insight into the behavior of cancerous lesions and their response to selected therapeutic approaches. These findings should further validate the expanded use of our system in cancer research and treatment from pre-clinical development of new compounds to multiphase testing of these compounds in human trials and monitoring response to therapy in the day-to-day clinical environment."
"The addition of the DKFZ installation is a continuation of the company's commercial roll out of the BioScanIR® System that began last year. Throughout 2004, we expect to significantly expand the number of commercial pilot sites and expect to initiate sales as they are converted to commercial revenue-generating sites," concluded Mr. Fauci.
About The BioScanIR® System:
The Company's BioScanIR® System, which is available commercially in the U.S. and Europe, detects diseases that affect changes in blood perfusion by detecting minute changes in the pattern of infrared photon emissions over time. The detector technology used in the system, known as a Quantum Well Infrared Photodetector (QWIP), was originally developed for the Department of Defense's Ballistic Missile Defense Initiative. The Company owns an exclusive, worldwide license to use the technology for biomedical applications. OmniCorder believes that the BioScanIR® System will improve disease detection and disease management capabilities in many vascular and cancer medical applications. Both cancer and vascular disease are associated with abnormal blood flow in tissues and organs.
About The Deutsche Krebsforschungszentrum (DKFZ) Heidelberg:
The Deutsche Krebsforschungszentrum (DKFZ) Heidelberg was founded as a non-profit organization and supraregional research center by the Land (state) Baden-Wurttemberg in 1964. It was constituted as a foundation of public law. Since 1975, it has been a Grobforschungseinrichtung (National Research Center). It is mainly funded by the Bundesforschungsministerium (Federal Ministry for Research and Technology) and by the Ministerium fur Forschung und Wissenschaft (Ministry for Research and Sciences) of the Land Baden-Wurttemberg. Additional funding is obtained by other public and private sources such as the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Science Association), special projects of the European Union (EU) of Federal and State ministries as well as cooperations with the industry and also private donations to the foundation.
International cooperations based on bilateral agreements exist with the National Council for Research and Development (NCRD) of Israel and with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the USA. A continuous collaboration exists with the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Lyon, France. Cooperations were contracted with scientists in approximately 40 countries, including the People's Republic of China, India, Hungary, and Tanzania. DKFZ is a member of the UICC (International Union against Cancer) and of the OECI (Organization of European Cancer Institutes). Scientists of DKFZ are engaged in the EORTC (European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer) and the EACR (European Association for Cancer Research) and in the WHO.
About OmniCorder Technologies, Inc.:
OmniCorder Technologies Inc., headquartered in East Setauket, New York, is a leading developer of medical imaging applications using advanced infrared focal plane arrays. OmniCorder provides imaging technology for clinicians and researchers for drug discovery, disease detection and disease management applications.
OmniCorder's mission is to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of healthcare services and research through identifying, acquiring and adapting military and aerospace technology for biomedical applications.
The Company recently announced a $7.8 million funding which coincided with the reverse acquisition of publicly traded, Promos, Inc. (OTCBB Symbol: PMOS.OB - News)
This press release includes statements that may constitute "forward-looking" statements, usually containing the words "believe", "estimate", "project", "expect" or similar expressions. These statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Factors that would cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, continued acceptance of the Company's products and services in the marketplace, the ability of the Company to develop effective new products and receive governmental approvals of such products, competitive factors, dependence upon third-party vendors, and other risks detailed in the Company's periodic report filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. By making these forward-looking statements, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements for revisions or changes after the date of this release.
Contact:
CCRI Corporation
Malcolm McGuire, 800/828-0406
E-mail: mmcguire17@cox.net
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OmniCorder Technologies, Inc.
(Corporate Communications)
Anne Marie Fields, 631/689-2649 ext. 216 |
