International Agreement Licenses Seno’s Opto-Acoustic Imaging Technology To VisualSonics to Enable Molecular Imaging at the Cellular Level and Aid in the Pursuit of Neurology, Regenerative Medicine, Inflammation, and Cancer Applications

TORONTO and SAN ANTONIO, TX, Nov. 20 – VisualSonics and Seno Medical Instruments today announced the official signing of a licensing agreement providing VisualSonics exclusive rights to Seno Medical’s Opto-Acoustic technology for preclinical research.

“The application of opto-acoustic technology to our Vevo(R) preclinical imaging platform is an exciting new area for VisualSonics” stated Tom Little, President and Chief Executive Officer of VisualSonics, “We will be enabling researchers to push the limits of discovery as we develop tools for intracellular and molecular imaging with VisualSonics technology and Seno Medical IP.”

VisualSonics will embed Seno’s opto-acoustic technology in their next generation of high-frequency ultrasound platforms and this will extend their molecular imaging capability to the sub cellular level. This combination will drive the new molecular imaging utility for the next generation of preclinical imaging with the Vevo platform.

“Seno’s preclinical opto-acoustic platform technology will enable researchers to non-invasively detect and monitor biological structures, functions and processes at the cellular and molecular level as well as potentially provide the ability to monitor and quantify hypoxia (oxygenated vs. deoxygenated tissue or cells), and to reveal information on tumor development, disease progression and inflammation processes that were previously unattainable,” said Janet Campbell, Chairman and CEO of Seno Medical Instruments. “For this reason, there is great interest in our opto-acoustic technology for both clinical and preclinical applications. We look forward to working with VisualSonics, a market leader, and recognize that this licensing agreement further validates the value of our platform technology.”

VisualSonics, the current market leader in pre-clinical high-frequency micro-ultrasound imaging systems used for small animal research, has licensed Seno Medical Instrument’s opto-acoustic imaging technology to enable researchers to non-invasively detect and monitor biological structures, functions and processes at the cellular and molecular level. Since 2003, VisualSonics has sold more than 500 of its Vevo(R) imaging systems and researchers are using them widely to generate anatomical and functional data in research areas that include angiogenesis, tumor growth, and cardiovascular disease in small animal models. The Vevo platforms current imaging capabilities assist scientists to better understand phenotypes, structure and function and to better understand how genes affect diseases and responses to treatments. Micro-ultrasound imaging provides a noninvasive tool for viewing complex biological mechanisms in real-time.