Under the terms of the agreement, Merck will be granted access to Spin Signal Technology (SST) utilizing hyperpolarized Xenon 129 gas, a molecular imaging agent that is under investigation by GE Healthcare to provide high speed, quantitative imaging of the lung using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). GE Healthcare originally licensed this technology from Princeton University.
This technology is being evaluated to determine if it can provide more sensitive information than currently available tests on how diseased lungs function, by using xenon, a gas that can be modified with the SST to be detectable with MRI.
This agreement is part of GE Healthcare’s strategy of helping to accelerate the development of new therapeutics by improving pharma access to novel molecular imaging agents to assess the impact of potential drugs in animal models and, when appropriate, human subjects.