Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited and Mauna Kea Technologies Announce the “Imaging and Robotics in Surgery (IRiS) Alliance”
The IRiS Alliance is an exclusive scientific and clinical research collaboration that combines two highly complementary technologies to deliver greater precision in the diagnosis and surgical management of urological cancers.
Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited and Mauna Kea Technologies today announced an exclusive scientific and clinical research collaboration in the field of molecular imaging guided urologic oncology.
The Telix and Mauna Kea scientific and clinical research collaboration is called the “Imaging and Robotics in Surgery (IRiS) Alliance,” or “IRiS Alliance,” and was created to further develop the combined technological capabilities of both companies. The IRiS Alliance was formed based on the belief that the use of cancer-specific Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging agents, including dual-modality tracers that combine PET and fluorescent (optical) techniques, in conjunction with confocal laser endomicroscopy, may significantly improve surgical techniques and clinical outcomes in patients with urologic cancers.
The IRiS Alliance aims to demonstrate that pre-operative planning, intra-operative guidance, surgical margin assessment and other surgical parameters may be improved by combining these modalities. The initial focus of the IRiS Alliance is to develop and evaluate the use of Telix’s dual-modality PET and optical imaging tracers, together with Mauna Kea’s unique near-infrared version of the Cellvizio endomicroscopy platform to facilitate fluorescence-guided surgical interventions for prostate and kidney cancers.
“We are excited to announce this exclusive scientific and clinical research collaboration with Telix in the field of urologic oncology,” said Robert L. Gershon, Chief Executive Officer of Mauna Kea Technologies. “The IRiS Alliance endeavors to combine the strengths of Telix’s molecular targeting, together with Cellvizio’s real-time in vivo cellular imaging, to bring dual modality molecular imaging to the operating theatre for the first time. The IRiS Alliance aims to significantly transform how the urologic surgeon will evaluate, target, excise, and confirm surgical margins at the cellular level. Our collaboration will further empower surgeons to fight cancers and save lives. We expect to begin pre-clinical and clinical feasibility studies in 2021.”
“The cutting-edge techniques our respective companies have developed in molecular targeting and real-time in vivo cellular imaging have a natural synergy and we are extremely pleased to have formalized this ground-breaking partnership,” said Christian Behrenbruch, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited. “Through the IRiS Alliance, Telix and Mauna Kea together aim to deliver quantum improvements in surgical techniques and clinical outcomes in patients with urologic cancers, starting with prostate and kidney cancers, with the ultimate objective of improving the lives of the patients we serve.”
