FluoroPharma Medical, Inc., a company specializing in the development of breakthrough diagnostic imaging products that utilize positron emission tomography (PET) technology to detect and assess pathology before clinical manifestation of diseases, today released a company overview as presented by FluoroPharma’s President and CEO, Thijs Spoor. This “State of the Union” address provided shareholders with a complete picture of the company, its evolution and future potential.
Mr. Spoor began the communication by stating, “Our company vision, financial position and management team are strong, and our product portfolio holds great promise.
“As we advance our business model, we recognize the importance of keeping shareholders informed, and it is with this intention that I present before you today. To understand where we are going, it is important to understand where we have come from. And to understand our founding principles, it is helpful to look at the evolution of the Imaging industry.
“Doctors at a community hospital review x-ray films to better understand the cause of a patient’s symptoms… a cardiologist completes an angiography to diagnose the severity of disease involving her patient’s heart… a man awaits his discharge from the hospital outpatient center having completed the procedure that may help him beat prostate cancer with a minimum of side effects… using a special camera and injected radioactive imaging agent, a nuclear radiologist evaluates blood flow in the heart of a patient who has been experiencing chest pain.
“These cases represent only a few of millions where we believe innovative diagnostic imaging has changed the way internal medicine is practiced by providing the healthcare industry with a safe, minimally invasive, and cost effective means to rapidly diagnose and treat patients.”
Evolution to more effective and efficient care:
Mr. Spoor continues, “Looking beyond today’s successes, the future for diagnostic imaging procedures with higher sensitivity and specificity is extremely promising as they provide early and more accurate information to enable more effective treatment and follow-up of its efficacy. Early treatment means saving the patient from long and expensive hospital stays, which results in less time away from family and work. That’s not just cost-effective medicine, that’s better medicine.”
Focus on advancing personalized medicine and personalized care:
“Looking ahead, patients will see medical diagnostic products matched closely to therapeutics, such that they are more likely to be prescribed the exact treatment for their condition,” states Mr. Spoor. “This will improve chances for cure and reduce unnecessary costs and side effects. As we look forward to advances in science and medicine, FluoroPharma’s goal is to enable personalized medicine by enabling the physician to prescribe the right medicine, for the right person, at the right time for the right outcome. This is only possible with the right diagnostics.
“Just imagine a day when therapies are tailored to an individual’s genetic and cellular makeup. Imagine the ability to detect disease before it becomes apparent. At FluoroPharma, we are working to become an important player in the rapidly changing face of medicine worldwide. We are working on diagnostics that will make the invisible, visible.”
High growth market provides burgeoning opportunities:
“Our future is defined by the potential of the market, and that too is strong and growing,” notes Mr. Spoor. “According to a report issued by the Global Industry Analysts, Inc. (GIA), ‘The world imaging agents market is projected to cross $15 billion by 2015, primarily driven by the growing volume of diagnostic examinations and widening applications… the market for molecular imaging agents currently exceeds $1.7 billion annually and promises rapid growth for the foreseeable future.’ The report further supports this by acknowledging the increasing focus on diagnostic examinations that help in the early identification of disease in order to enable more effective treatment.”
Our initial focus is on cardiology, the largest segment of the nuclear medicine market:
“Molecular imaging fulfills numerous unmet diagnostic needs by enabling visualization, characterization and measurement of biological processes at the molecular and cellular level,” emphasizes Mr. Spoor. “Unlike the traditional imaging modalities of MRI, CT and ultrasound, which reveal anatomical abnormalities, PET provides insight into physiology and can detect disease before anatomical manifestation is identified. The combination of both modalities is becoming a more powerful tool.
“FluoroPharma’s proprietary molecules labeled with the radioactive isotope of fluorine combined with PET scanning provide non-invasive, highly specific and efficient assessment of heart metabolism and physiology. CardioPET, our metabolic cardiac PET imaging agent that has completed Phase 1 testing, may be an accurate alternative to standard treadmill stress-testing. This could be especially valuable in patients who are unable to exercise. BFPET, which also completed Phase 1 testing, is a cardiovascular blood flow imaging agent that concentrates in healthy myocardial cells. This agent will be used to detect presumptive coronary artery disease (CAD) in combination with stress-testing and enables improved detection of CAD multi-vessel disease. According to Frost & Sullivan, more than 10 million Americans undergo myocardial perfusion imaging each year. Our VasoPET product is in preclinical development and could represent the first PET cardiac product to reliably image inflamed or ‘vulnerable’ atheromatous plaque, an ominous condition and precursor to myocardial infarction and possibly death. And AZPET, for imaging of Alzheimer’s disease, is in the very early phase of discovery.
“Our comprehensive technology platform was developed by scientists at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and to date the company has been issued four U.S. patents and has seven applications pending. We have also secured strong patent protection overseas.”
In summary, Mr. Spoor states, “Our business is to support early diagnosis. If imaging equipment were used to capacity, we believe more patients could be diagnosed earlier. This would lead to better clinical outcomes through prevention or more effective tailored and personalized therapy. We believe earlier diagnosis also benefits global health services financially by minimizing the expensive, aggressive, late and often ineffective therapies prescribed to patients as a result of diagnosis later in disease progression. Clinical trials have confirmed that our technologies are safe and we are now establishing their efficacy. We also have intellectual property in place to protect our proprietary innovations around the world and intend to accelerate a business strategy that targets multiple, multimillion dollar healthcare markets with unmet needs.”
“With a clear vision, solid strategy, experienced management team and the necessary resources to advance clinical development, FluoroPharma is well positioned to capitalize on its superior imaging technology in 2012 and beyond,” Mr. Spoor concludes.
For more information, see the company website at www.FluoroPharma.com
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