A Medical Device Daily

VirtualScopics (Rochester, New York), a developer of image-based biomarker solutions, reported signing two, 24-month contracts totaling $1.4 million for two Phase II/III cancer studies of the vascular disruptive agent MN-029 with MediciNova (San Diego), a pharmaceutical company.

VirtualScopics will perform site qualification and training for more than 110 global imaging sites, image data analysis and final reporting.

The studies, which include both standard computed tomography tumor imaging and dynamic contrast enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI), an advanced imaging technique for directly measuring blood flow and vascular permeability in tumors, were awarded to VirtualScopics, it said, on the strength of the company’s performance on two earlier Phase I trials of the same compound

In other agreements:

• Radlink (Redondo Beach, California), a supplier of medical imaging systems to healthcare providers, reported signing an agreement with X-Ray Visions (Springfield, Virginia) to serve as master distributor of its CR Pro machine to healthcare organizations in Maryland, Virginia and Washington.

X-Ray Visions will be responsible for regional sales of Radlink’s CR Pro machine. The system is designed to utilize Radlink’s sealed fiber-optic laser technology (patent pending) to deliver high-resolution, diagnostic-quality digital X-ray images.

• Alion Science and Technology (McLean, Virginia), a technology solutions company, has been awarded a contract that it says has a potential value of nearly $8 million to provide support to the Department of the Navy (DoN) Human Research Protection Program (HRPP). The DoN HRPP is responsible for ensuring that DoN-sponsored research with human subjects meets federal regulations, DoN directives, and policies.

The contract, awarded by the U.S. Navy to support its Bureau of Medicine and Surgery , is a time and materials contract with a one-year base and four option years. Alion will provide experts in applied research ethics to assist in conducting education and training; development of the DoN HRPP handbook; assessment of human research protection programs at the Navy’s commands and institutions conducting Navy-supported research;, support in the development and implementation of corrective action programs as needed; and information systems support.