Researchers presented a variety of encouraging results withImmunomedics Inc.'s imaging agents at the 41st annual meeting of theSociety of Nuclear Medicine in Orlando, Fla. this week:y One study compared Immunomedics' ImmuRAID-CEA imagingagent for colorectal cancer with BW431/26, a product developed byHoechst Behring of Frankfurt, Germany. ImmuRAID-CEA, afragmented antibody labeled with Tc-99m, was recently ruled notapprovable by the FDA. The scientists, all from the University ofErlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, reported that ImmuRAID-CEApermitted earlier and more accurate detection of liver metastases, amajor complication and cause of death in persons with colorectalcancer in the comparison study.y ImmuRAID-CEA was also found to function well in patients withbreast cancer in a Phase II study conducted in the U.S.y It also performed well in a Phase II multicenter trial involving 54patients with diverse lung cancers, with an overall sensitivity of 90percent.y A Phase III trial of the agent in lung cancers is now being conductedby Immunomedics' collaborator, Pharmacia Inc. of Dublin, Ohio.y Encouraging results were also reported for ImmuRAID-AFP in thedetection of liver and germ cell cancers, and for ImmuRAID-LL2 inidentifying all grades of lymphoma.y Another Immunomedics' product, LeukoSCAN (formerlyImmuRAID-MN3) demonstrated a 91 percent degree of accuracy,sensitivity, and specificity in a study of 35 patients with infectiousdiseases. This accuracy was greater than that achieved withconventional white blood cell scanning methods. Encouraging resultswere also noted in a study of the agent in patients with suspectedosteomyelitis.The agent is now in another Phase III study of infection imaging, andthe Morris Plains, N.J. company has completed accrual of patients for aPhase III trial of the product in the detection of osteomyelitis anddiabetic foot ulcers. _ Philippa Maister

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