Global leader in human health and environmental health adds in vivo molecular imaging capabilities for enhancing preclinical research for more effective therapies

PerkinElmer, Inc., a global leader focused on the health and safety of people and the environment, announced on August 3 that it has acquired VisEn Medical, Inc., an in vivo molecular imaging technology company based in Bedford, Massachusetts.

The acquisition enables PerkinElmer to enhance its cellular imaging business, by expanding the Company's technologies and capabilities downstream into preclinical research undertaken in academic institutes and pharmaceutical companies. VisEn's proprietary fluorescence molecular imaging systems and reagents are currently used in applications involving research into cancer, inflammation, cardiovascular, skeletal and pulmonary diseases.

"We are very pleased to bring VisEn into the PerkinElmer organization," said Richard Eglen, president, Bio-discovery, PerkinElmer. "VisEn provides a compelling offering in molecular imaging platforms and tools that are synergistic with PerkinElmer's existing business. This acquisition broadens our product portfolio along the drug discovery pipeline, from basic disease-based research to preclinical drug discovery applications, through the addition of proprietary chemistries in the emerging and fast growing space of translational biomarker reagents."

He added, "This acquisition will advance further PerkinElmer's mission to assist life sciences and pharmaceutical research in finding additional ways to develop new generations of safer and more effective drugs, as well as better diagnostic capabilities."

The VisEn offering includes its Fluorescence Agent Portfolio and its Fluorescence Molecular Tomographic (FMTTM) Imaging Systems. These technologies provide quantitative molecular imaging data that can be useful for identifying and characterizing a range of disease biomarkers and therapeutic efficacy in cells and animal models. This cellular imaging approach, combined with PerkinElmer technologies, can enable better screening and optimization of potential new drugs, through translational biomarker research. This can provide an increased correlation of isolated cellular activity with in vivo biological activity, which will allow researchers to get closer to understanding human responses and thereby develop better potential therapies.

Founded in 2000 by Ralph Weissleder and Kirtland Poss, VisEn's customer base includes academic imaging facilities and departments, biologists, radiologists, medical imaging facilities (combined with CT/MRI/Ultrasound), pharmaceutical therapeutic research departments, and contract research organizations (CROs). Additionally, VisEn collaborates with pharmaceutical companies to design custom molecular imaging reagents and applications for specific preclinical and clinical research areas.