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Cardinal and Ohio State to Expand Molecular Imaging Research

by Lynn Shapiro, Writer | May 05, 2009
Cardinal Health
Cardinal Health said it is collaborating with The Ohio State University and Ohio Third Frontier (a state-funded organization that invests in early-stage companies and promotes research) in a $10 million program that will combine Ohio State's biomedical imaging research capabilities and Cardinal Health's manufacturing and commercialization expertise to launch new molecular imaging agents.

The partnership will include a new Molecular Imaging Technology Center at Ohio State. The center will house Ohio State's researchers, as well as Cardinal Health's radiopharmaceutical manufacturing facility and nuclear pharmacy operations.

In addition, a distinguished faculty position in radiopharmaceutical chemistry, along with other researchers, will be added to Ohio State's department of radiology.

"While we expect to immediately create up to a dozen highly-skilled jobs with this exciting new partnership, the true value is collaborating with Ohio State and Cardinal Health to attract the best and brightest researchers to Ohio and continue to diversify our state's economy," said Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher. "The new center is expected to bring additional investment from the pharmaceutical industry, which can leverage the research and commercialization expertise offered by this partnership for new radiopharmaceutical development projects."

The imaging technology center will provide Ohio State researchers with the capacity and expertise it needs to develop molecular imaging agents in Positron Emission Tomography, also known as PET imaging. As new agents move through the development pipeline, Cardinal Health will also support clinical trials across its national network of radiopharmaceutical facilities, the company said.

John Rademacher, president of Cardinal Health's Nuclear Pharmacy business said, "Researchers and industry alike will be attracted to the molecular imaging center as a one-stop shop for research, development, clinical investigational trials and full commercialization of new molecular imaging agents. By diagnosing disease at its earliest stages, these new imaging agents can also save lives and help reduce the overall cost of health care because outcomes and treatment costs are optimized when early intervention is possible."

Through the Ohio Third Frontier, additional Federal and private sector support can boost the total investment to more than $6 billion, Cardinal Health said.

Source: Cardinal Health

Read a nuclear medicine industry sector report in the June 2009 issue of DOTmed Business News.