VANCOUVER, Aug. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Zecotek Medical Systems Inc. (TSX-Venture - ZMS; Frankfurt- W1I.F) today announced that it has entered into an agreement with the University of British Columbia to jointly develop advanced light sources and optical systems for its future Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) medical imaging products.
OCT is the latest product initiative by Zecotek to be directed at building its medical imaging division into a worldwide market leader, through technological innovation. OCT joins other medical imaging products under development by Zecotek, including the micro-PET for pharmaceutical research, the PET-MRI and core enabling components for the PET-CT machines.
OCT is a non-invasive, in vivo, portable optical imaging technique which is used to image a few millimetres below the surface of human tissue, either internally with an endoscope or externally. It has at least 10 times higher resolution than ultrasound. The most established clinical application is in the diagnosis of retinal diseases. OCT’s future holds promise for very early identification of cancers and cardiovascular diseases. OCT has the potential to eliminate the need for surgically removed biopsies in many cases. OCT is a rapidly growing market, driven by the ever increasing demand for better medical imaging techniques.
Zecotek will be collaborating with UBC’s world class semiconductor light-source group, led by Professor Tom Tiedje. Joining the expertise of Professor Tiedje’s team with Zecotek’s know-how in lasers, fiber optics and optical systems, the collaboration anticipates significant innovation and radical performance improvements in OCT systems, including higher resolution, better depth of penetration and improved scan rate. This will result in greatly improved diagnosis and patient outcomes. The market for OCT is expected to reach $250 million by 2010 and to grow at rates comparable with those of PET-CT and PET-MRI.
Under the terms of the three year agreement Zecotek will assist in funding the project for the development of the OCT system. In consideration for its monetary contribution and royalty payments to UBC, Zecotek gains exclusive rights to exploit the OCT developments on a worldwide basis.
Dr. Faouzi Zerrouk, Chairman and CEO of Zecotek commented:
“Zecotek is very pleased to be launching our second collaborative agreement project with UBC and continuing our association with Prof. Tiedje. ZMS began the association with UBC, with the development of our thin-film waveguide micro-laser application. Prof. Tiedje and his team bring substantial expertise to the development of the OCT product, in particular in semiconductor growth and dilute nitrides, which are key technologies for the OCT light-source. This augurs well for the achievement of impressive results and an attractive market opportunity for Zecotek.”
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Source: Zecotek Medical Systems Inc.
