A Medical Device Daily

Samsung Electronics (Seoul, South Korea) reported completing development of a flat-panel X-ray detector (FPXD) for radiology machines, in collaboration with Vatech, a South Korean medical machinery manufacturing company.

Samsung said that by using digital imaging with thin-film transistor (TFT) technology, "the diagnostic process is enhanced in many ways."

It said that in addition to delivering a "much more precise image," the new FPXD imaging sensor can save medical labs considerable time and money because no film or development process is needed.

Samsung bills itself as the world's largest provider of thin-film transistor, liquid crystal display panels. It describes an X-ray detector as "an elaborate imaging sensor that converts invisible X-ray images into digital signals, which are then instantly transformed into pictures."

The company said that the medical profession "still relies primarily on costly, plastic-based analog film for X-ray photography applications, which can take an excessively long period of time to develop in many medical situations."

Executive VP Yoon Jin-hyuk, chief of the Mobile LCD Division in the Samsung Electronics LCD business, said, "The analog film camera market almost completely switched over to digital cameras within a decade. The X-ray detector market should move even faster and become completely digitized within a few years."

The new FPXD measures 45 cm wide x 46 cm high and features a 9.4 megapixels resolution, providing ultra-high-definition images.

The new Samsung technology has what the Korean firm termed "an endless range of applications beyond conventional X-ray systems." For example, it can be adopted for more advanced diagnostics such as CAT scans, for building inspections (scanning rebar structures) and for airport security scanners.

To create its FPXD, the company said it attached photodiodes to a TFT substrate that was produced using its proprietary amorphous silicon technology. The X-rays are detected photon by photon and then converted into visible light, which in turn is converted to electrical signals that can be displayed as diagnostic images on a flat-panel screen.

In addition, Samsung has created an image enhancement function to eliminate most digital image noise interference, "to provide the highest radiographic sensitivity in the industry," according to the company.

The device will be available worldwide beginning in 1Q08.

MIT, India's government plan new institute

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT; Cambridge, Massachusetts) and the government of India's Department of Biotechnology have launched a partnership that will result in the creation of a new Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI) in India.

This institute, which will be modeled after the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST), will include faculty from multiple disciplines and professions, offer degrees through multidisciplinary programs, and develop strong ties with other institutions.

Funded by the Indian government, the Indian HST will be a multi-disciplinary, multi-professional research and training center that is interconnected with regional centers of excellence.

The parties said the institute will increase India's capacity for translating scientific and technological advancements into medical innovations that have the potential to improve healthcare both in India and around the world.

HST Director Martha Gray and Dr. M. K. Bhan, secretary of the Department of Biotechnology in India's Ministry of Science & Technology, signed a letter of intent for the partnership during a symposium in New Delhi.

"Launching this new partnership with India's Department of Biotechnology will build on HST's pioneering model of medical education that integrates science, medicine and engineering to solve problems of human health," said Susan Hockfield, president of MIT.

HST will help recruit and train new THSTI faculty members. Each year starting in September 2008 and continuing until 2011, four recruited THSTI faculty fellows will join the HST faculty. These faculty fellows will train at HST for two years. During their stay they will develop translational research programs and design courses and curricula for THSTI.

Grant in-licenses molecular HPV test

Grant Life Sciences (Los Angeles) said it has signed a final agreement with Alphagenics Diaco Biotechnologies in Italy to exclusively in-license the manufacturing and marketing rights to Alphagenics' molecular diagnostic test for human papillomaviruses (HPVs) in China and the U.S., and non-exclusively in all other countries.

The test in-licensed by Grant is a DNA-based diagnostic that uses standard molecular diagnostic equipment found in most commercial laboratories. Alphagenics' HPV DNA test complements the HPV blood test that Grant has been developing to detect the presence of antibodies produced only by cancer-causing HPV types.

There are some 100 types of HPV, but only about seven to 15 HPV-types cause most cervical cancers, Grant said. While it said it still views a blood-based test to detect precancerous evidence and cancer of the cervix as the preferred test methodology to address the needs of the developing world, molecular testing is currently the approved test protocol in both the U.S. and Europe to identify the presence of different subtypes of HPV in the cervix.

The Alphagenics test will be able to be used in the current gynecological regimen to help qualify Pap test results in the case of ambiguous readings, at a cost less than the current approved molecular test.

Grant said it expects to launch the Alphagenics HPV DNA-based test in the Asian and Indian markets during 1Q08 as an analyte-specific reagent to reference laboratories.

ActiPatch receives approval in Jordan

BioElectronics (Frederick, Maryland) reported clearance by the Food & Drug Administration of Jordan for the company's ActiPatch, with shipments for both the retail and medical professional markets already begun.

ActiPatch is a drug-free, anti-inflammatory patch with an embedded battery-operated microchip that delivers weeks of continuous pulsed therapy. The company said the ActiPatch delivery system "provides a cost-effective, patient-friendly method to reduce soft-tissue pain and swelling."