VisEn Announces Launch of MMPSense Fluorescence Molecular Imaging Probe

VisEn Medical, Inc. has announced the market launch of its MMPSense molecular imaging probe for real time imaging of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) related activities in vivo.

By imaging and quantifying disease-related biological activities and therapeutic interventions in vivo, VisEn technology platforms enable expanded areas of research, increasingly drug development, and advanced personalized clinical medicine into the future.

The VisEn MMPSense probe, developed from the Company's fluorescence imaging probe platforms, is an activatible in vivo fluorescence probe capable of imaging MMP activity in tumors and other sites of inflammation in vivo. In its non-active state, the probe is not fluorescent, but it emits strong fluorescence in response to MMP activity in vivo.

According to the National Cancer Institute, MMPs are a group of enzymes that can break down proteins, such as collagen, that are normally found in the spaces between cells in tissues (i.e., extracellular matrix proteins). It is known that MMP activity is involved in many disease-related phenomena, including cancer propagation, invasion and metastasis, inflammation, host response, and in areas of cardiovascular disease.

On May 2 of this year, VisEn Medical and its exclusive distribution partner in Asia, Olympus Corporation, announced the launch of MMPSense as well as VisEn's nanoparticle-based AngioSpark and AminoSpark molecular imaging probes, in Japan and other key Asian markets.

"Today's MMPSense product launch marks a significant advance in our drive to provide a complete package of translational molecular imaging solutions for measuring and quantifying disease progression and drug effect in vivo," said Kirtland G. Poss, President and CEO of VisEn Medical.

"Our partners in drug development and clinical research worldwide can now access these important new tools that will help the whole field better understand, define and treat molecular targets and disease processes in an unprecedented fashion," said Poss.