New Infection Imaging Agent Licensed

A new in vivo diagnostic imaging agent that provides a new way of detecting sites of bacterial infection has been licensed to Draximage Inc. (Quebec, Canada) by BTG (London, UK). The agreement gives Draximage exclusive rights to manufacture and sell the product in Europe and the United States.

The new agent comprises the antibiotic ciprofloxacin tagged with a radionuclide, technetium-99m. When given intravenously, the radiolabeled antibiotic demonstrates an ability to distinguish between infection and inflammation by binding directly to bacteria in vivo. The area of bacterial infection is identifiable by imaging with a large-field gamma camera. Extensive clinical trials have been conducted, which show that the agent achieves up to 96% specificity in detecting bacteria in lung, bones, and tissue—areas where other diagnostics have failed. The agent is expected to be particularly useful in bacterial endocarditis, post-operative infection in general, and active tuberculosis.

"We believe that this product has the potential to detect bacterial infection more quickly and selectively, thereby benefiting a great number of patients,” said Prof. Keith Britton, one of the inventors of the agent, at St. Bartholomew's Hospital (London, UK).



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