The newly issued patent covers Biophan's groundbreaking proprietary solutions for making MRI safe to use with a broad range of critical medical apparatus, including implantable devices such as pacemakers, deep brain stimulators, pain devices, surgical tools, and cardiovascular stents. The anti-antenna innovations, along with several other broad patent claims Biophan has filed, have the potential to expand the markets for traditional diagnostic imaging applications of MRI, and will enable development of important emerging areas, such as MRI-guided surgery.
“Safety and image compatibility have long been major concerns when considering use of MRI in large populations of patients with implanted devices such as stents, guidewires, catheters, and vena cava filters”
"Safety and image compatibility have long been major concerns when considering use of MRI in large populations of patients with implanted devices such as stents, guidewires, catheters, and vena cava filters," said Mr. Weiner. "We anticipate that this patent will protect the Company's technology against the efforts of any other companies to make devices, such as pacemakers and neurostimulators, definitively safe for use with MRI machines."
For example, a wire lead modified with Biophan's patented anti-antenna techniques can solve both the problems of lead heating and the very dangerous problems of "induced voltages" that can cause rapid heartbeats and other dangerous complications with devices that place electrodes into heart tissue.
"To date, there has been no completely effective solution for the medical problems that could arise from induced voltages," said Mr. Weiner. "We have demonstrated, through the teachings of these patents, how a manufacturer can affordably make their devices definitively and completely safe in a manufacturing-friendly and low-cost manner."
The anti-antenna technology also allows vascular stents, which are generally considered safe for use in MRI environments, to be constructed so they will for the first time be MRI-imageable for the critical need to diagnose levels of plaque build-up and thrombosis presence. The anti-antenna approach complements Biophan's work on nanotechnology-based coatings to make stents imageable under MRI. The Company holds both issued and pending patents on two different approaches toward imaging restenosis--the unhealthy build-up of blockages--in stents.
The anti-antenna patent is filed under US patent number 6,829,509. Further technical details about the patent can be viewed at http://www.biophan.com/6829509.html.
Biophan's newly-issued anti-antenna patent and related intellectual property rights position the Company as an industry leader with a substantial scientific achievement. They also provide the Company with licensing opportunities to apply the technology to a deep and broad constituency of medical practitioners and biotechnology interests. Among the medical markets and procedures that may be materially affected by Biophan's anti-antenna technology is the universe of patients who have implanted cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators.
"Previously, techniques to deal with heating and voltage-induced problems have been designed to allow physicians to essentially skirt around the problem. Our solution appears to completely eliminate the danger," Mr. Weiner said. "That's a huge difference to physicians, and provides significant benefit for large populations of patients for whom MRI use was previously too dangerous and unavailable to them. Certain devices are of borderline safety, requiring a radiologist and knowledgeable cardiologist to be present to attempt a safe MRI scan. We feel that the pragmatic solution is to eliminate the safety risks, not try and skirt around them."
Additionally, interventional devices, such as guidewires and catheters used in interventional medicine, may also be made MRI-safe by using the Biophan technology. This has the potential to sharply accelerate development of the new field of MRI-guided surgery, opening additional medical applications and potential revenue streams for the thousands of MRI devices installed around the world.
Biophan is already in negotiations and discussions with several companies interested in licenses to the anti-antenna patents.
"Combined with other patents, such as our Johns Hopkins patent for Radio-Frequency Filtering, we believe our technology enjoys a dominant position in the intellectual property marketplace for MRI-safe device solutions," Mr. Weiner said. "Biophan's patents can enable a wide field of biomedical devices currently being sold in the United States, as well as those being prepared for sale, to be MRI safe and image compatible. We are committed to the strategic use of our patent portfolio to bring maximum value to our shareholders."
About Biophan Technologies
Biophan develops and markets cutting-edge technologies designed to make biomedical devices safe and compatible with the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) environment. The Company develops enabling technologies for implanted medical systems such as pacemakers, and interventional surgical devices such as catheters and guidewires, as well as stents and other implants that can be safely and effectively imaged under MRI. The technology is also being used to create MRI contrast agents, and has expanded to include other applications, such as drug delivery and power systems derived from body heat. Four Biophan technologies include advances in nanotechnology and thin film coatings. Committed to growth through innovation and developmental leadership, Biophan and its licensors now hold a total of 103 U.S. patents, licenses or applications. This total includes 25 issued U.S. patents, 8 recently-allowed applications that will issue as patents in the near future, and 70 pending applications at various stages of examination at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The patents cover areas including nanotechnology (nanomagnetic particle coatings), radio frequency filters, polymer composites, thermoelectric materials for batteries generating power from body heat, and photonics. Biophan has joint development arrangements with Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) and NASA's Ames Center for Nanotechnology. Biophan's goal is to make all biomedical devices capable of safely and successfully working with MRI, and delivering other technologies which will improve quality of life. For more information, please visit www.biophan.com.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements included in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from such statements expressed or implied herein as a result of a variety of factors including, but not limited to: the development of Biophan's MRI technologies; the approval of Biophan's patent applications; the successful implementation of Biophan's research and development programs; the acceptance by the market of Biophan's products; competition; and the timing of projects and trends in future operating performance, as well as other factors expressed from time to time in Biophan's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). As a result, this press release should be read in conjunction with Biophan's periodic filings with the SEC. The forward-looking statements contained herein are made only as of the date of this press release, and Biophan undertakes no obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.
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