BrightMarkTM Tissue Site Markers
The Company’s third diagnostic product line is the NuVue BrightMarkTM line of Tissue Site Markers. These markers consist of contrast agents encapsulated into microcapsules using the Company’s platform microencapsulation technology licensed from NASA.
Practitioners performing biopsies often leave behind an imageable “marker” to mark the site of the biopsy for purposes of monitoring the mass via ultrasound, for repeat biopsies, or for marking the site before and/or after surgery. Tissue site markers currently on the market typically consist of metal clips that tend to migrate within tissue, and so do not reliably mark the targeted tissue with accuracy over the long term.
There is an unmet clinical need for tissue markers that are easy to use and reliably mark the procedural site. NuVue’s BrightMark™ line of Tissue Site Markers will meet this need.
Unlike the metal clips in current use, the Company’s microcapsules lodge in the interstitial space of tissue without migration. And because the NASA/NuVue-developed microcapsules are so durable and biologically robust, they have the potential to endure in the tissue for long periods of time. Preclinical shelf-life studies indicate that these markers may survive in tissues for upwards of a year before they begin to bio-degrade.
The Company’s tissue markers have achieved proof of concept in animal human tumor models, and are currently in commercialization development phase.
Like the ColorMark™ biopsy needles, the Company’s BrightMark™ Tissue Site Markers will increase practitioners' effectiveness in tumor diagnosis and follow-up of cancer.
[Please note that the BrightMark™-C line of tissue site markers are in commercialization development stages; they have not yet been approved by the FDA and are not yet available for sale or use in the U.S.]
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