Olympus Expands Distribution Of VisEn Medical's Molecular Imaging Platforms

Woburn, MA and Tokyo, Japan - VisEn Medical, Inc., a leader in fluorescence in vivo imaging from research through medicine, today announced that it has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Olympus Corporation covering sales of the company's Fluorescence Molecular Tomography (FMT) imaging systems and portfolio of in vivo near infrared fluorescence imaging probes in Asia (South Korea, Singapore, China and Taiwan).

This agreement is an expansion of an exclusive distribution agreement between the two companies covering Japan, which began in September 2006. Under the new agreement, Olympus will expand its sales territory of the VisEn products to include all key Asian markets. Olympus plans to commence sales of VisEn's products in South Korea and Singapore in January 2007, followed by China and Taiwan thereafter.

VisEn's FMT imaging system provides the industry's most robust imaging performance in identifying, characterizing and quantifying a range of biomarkers in vivo, including known molecular activities underlying disease states such as cancer, inflammation, cardiovascular and bone disease. VisEn's portfolio of biocompatible near infrared fluorescence probes are specifically tailored to enable a range of imaging readouts of key in vivo disease-associated biological processes, including angiogenesis, protease activity, vascular permeability, inflammation, cell migration and tracking, and bone remodeling. VisEn's technologies are also designed for biocompatibility and translation from pre-clinical imaging into clinical imaging in the future.

The molecular imaging systems developed and sold by Olympus are the OV100 in vivo imaging system, which can be used for a wide range of observations, from full views of small animals to the cellular level, and the IV100 in vivo laser scanning microscope, which supports direct in vivo observation of small animals. By combining VisEn's FMT system and in vivo near infrared fluorescence probes with Olympus' OV100 and IV100 molecular imaging systems, researchers can generate an unprecedented range of molecular imaging data in vivo, from the cellular and tissue levels, to the true quantification of a diverse range of biologic and molecular processes, real time within the entire body.

Kirtland G. Poss, President and Chief Executive Officer of VisEn commented on the announcement, "Fluorescence imaging of biologic processes and molecular activities in vivo is playing an increasingly central role today from basic research through drug development, and into clinical medicine going forward. We are very pleased to expand our partnership with Olympus in these rapidly developing new areas, and expect these programs to bring our leading technology platforms to an even broader range of customers and partners."

SOURCE: VisEn Medical, Inc.