At the AD/PD 2022 international conference on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases, AC Immune SA presented images showing its positron emission tomography (PET) tracer detecting pathological alpha-synuclein (a-syn) in human subjects’ brains. The abnormal accumulation of a-syn, a natively unfolded and soluble presynaptic protein, is a neuropathological feature of neurodegenerative disorders.

A research team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in Germany has for the first time managed to integrate the dark-field X-ray technique into a CT scanner suitable for clinical application. They have just published an article describing how they integrated this technology, in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Egg Medical Inc. secured a $13 million investment from TVM Capital Life Science to solve the Humpty-Dumpty problem that plagues interventional cardiology – the scattering of radiation during X-ray guided procedures. The company’s Eggnest XR product contains the radiation using a carbon fiber platform with integrated radiation shielding that replaces the patient mattress on the X-ray table.

PARIS – Siemens Healthineers AG has unveiled its growth plans for 2025 at its annual general meeting. The Erlangen, Germany-based medical technology giant, valued at nearly $67 billion on the Frankfurt stock exchange, is ramping growth. “We are setting ourselves the objective of annual growth of up to 8% on a like-for-like basis up to 2025, compared with a previous objective of 5%,” said Ralf Thomas, supervisory board chairman, Siemens Healthineers AG. Adjusted earnings per share should, accordingly, rise by 15% a year over that period as part of this strategic plan, compared with a target of at least 10% previously.

PARIS – Damae Medical SAS has just raised nearly $6 million to develop new technology to detect skin cancer noninvasively without need for a biopsy. This series A round was led by BNP Paribas Développement SA and supported by original investors Kurma Partners SA and professional private equity fund, Paris Saclay Seed Fund.

Investors have backed Oxford University spin-off ONI Ltd. with $75 million to push commercialization of its nanoimaging technology. The startup’s flagship product Nanoimager is a desktop, super resolution microscope capable of visualizing, tracking, and imaging individual molecules in living cells with 20 nm resolution. The technology is already in use with biomedical companies to aid development of more efficient, targeted therapies.

Oslo-based med-tech company Observe Medical ASA has acquired ultrasound technology firm Biim Ultrasound AS for €18.5 million (US$20.9 million). The company’s combined portfolio includes Observe’s automated, digital urine meter, Sippi, and Biim’s wireless ultrasound probe, Biim, which received 510(k) clearance in 2018. The ultrasound technology is specifically used to guide needle and catheter insertions for dialysis and vascular access procedures and is currently in use at Fresenius Kidney Care’s U.S. dialysis centers.

In the season of college bowl games, two long-time rivals are vying for another title, the right to claim being the first to install Siemens Healthineers AG’s Magnetom Free.Max magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system. Both the Ohio State University and the University of Michigan said they were first in the U.S. to put in the recently approved system.

PERTH, Australia – The FDA has given the green light to Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd.’s lead radiopharmaceutical imaging agent, Illuccix, for prostate cancer. Illuccix is a kit for the preparation of gallium-68 (68Ga) prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) 11 for imaging prostate cancer with positron emission tomography (PET). It targets PSMA, a protein that is overexpressed on the surface of more than 90% of primary and metastatic prostate cancer cells.