Immunomedics announced on Monday Phase I/II clinical trialresults indicating that its infectious disease imaging agent,ImmuRAID-MN3, is able to detect osteomyelitis and infectionsin prosthetics joints.

The data was presented at the Cowen & Co. Health CareIndustry Conference in Boston. The trials of the white bloodcell-targeting monoclonal antibody fragment, which is labelledwith technetium-99m radioisotope, were conducted on 17patients. In one case, the agent detected osteomyelitis in thefoot of a diabetic. An infection also was found in a patient's hipprosthesis.

Russell McLauchlan, president, told BioWorld that ImmuRAID-MN3 clearly detected an infection in one case in which thestandard diagnostic, indium-111 white blood cell scanning,yielded an ambiguous result.

ImmuRAID-MN3 can yield an image after one to four hours,while Indium-111 requires several days.

The company estimates that indium-111 is used 100,000 timesa year in the United States. McLauchlan said thatImmunomedics (NASDAQ:IMMU) has not developed marketprojections for ImmuRAID-MN3, "but right now we areparalleling it to the colorectal cancer imaging business which isseveral hundred million dollars in the U.S."

The company said it expects to enter Phase III trials within sixmonths. Its stock closed up 38 cents at $13 on Monday.

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