IsoRay licenses North American rights to IBt's polymer seed technology for use with Cs-131 in brachytherapy

By E. Janene Geiss

Philadelphia, Jan. 3 - IsoRay, Inc. with its subsidiary IsoRay Medical, Inc. and IBt SA announced Tuesday that they have signed a letter of intent for a technology licensing agreement covering North America and providing IsoRay Medical with access to IBt's proprietary polymer seed technology for use with Cs-131 in brachytherapy.

IBt's polymer seed technology, when used in combination with IsoRay Medical's recently introduced medical isotope, Cesium-131, has numerous potential benefits, Roger Girard, IsoRay's chairman and chief executive officer, said in a company news release.

IsoRay said it intends, immediately following execution of the definitive agreement, to apply for approval from the Food and Drug Administration for the use of the two proprietary technologies used in tandem.

"In the long run, this could significantly reduce our manufacturing and production costs," Girard said, adding, "We believe polymer seeds have important clinical advantages, including more precise seed placement, improved dosimetry, enhanced imaging and other benefits."

IsoRay Medical said it currently manufactures Cesium-131 seeds using titanium seed technology.

The rights granted under the definitive exclusive agreement will allow IsoRay to use IBt's polymer seed technology combined with IsoRay's Cs-131 technology throughout North America.

In exchange for these rights, IsoRay Medical said it will make a series of payments throughout 2005 and 2006 as a license fee, as well as paying a royalty on sales of products based on IBt's technology throughout the 15-year license term.

IBt, or International Brachytherapy SA, is the owner of a series of patents related to its products and methods of fabrication for brachytherapy implants including polymer seed technology.

Polymer seed technology is used for the manufacture of seeds containing the therapeutic isotopes Iodine-125 and Palladium-103, which are used primarily to treat prostate cancer, officials said.

The agreement follows the Dec. 14 announcement that IsoRay Medical will begin production testing at the Idaho National Laboratory in early 2006.

Involving a major public-private sector collaboration, successful tests could lead to a development program enhancing IsoRay's isotope production capabilities of Cesium-131 at facilities located in Pocatello, Idaho, officials said.

The Cesium-131 isotope is being used in brachytherapy treatment for prostate cancer, which is the second leading cause of cancer deaths among men in the United States.

Protocols are scheduled to begin during the first quarter of 2006 for use of the isotope in both the lung and the pancreas, officials said.

Other forms of delivery devices for the isotope also are being considered, which may create a higher demand for the isotope.

The use of IBt's plastic seed technology with Pd-103 and I-125 is not covered by the agreement, officials said.

Richland, Wash.-based IsoRay Medical is the sole producer of the recently introduced Cesium-131 medical isotope used to treat prostate and other cancers.

IBt is a Seneffe, Belgium, company that designs, produces and sells a range of radiotherapy implants used in brachytherapy, implants containing radioisotopes that are placed in the heart of cancer tissue.

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