Regulatory approval...
Regulatory approvals are required for applications of the technology in humans. Regulatory approval for in vivo applications may require demonstration that the targeted nanoparticles are safe for injection into humans, that the instrument is also safe, and that the resulting measurement provides information useful in assessing the state of a patient. We believe that the constituent parts of the targeted nanoparticles have already been approved for injection in humans in other applications. Initial toxicology studies in cell cultures suggest that the combination of the parts into targeted nanoparticles is not toxic. Significant effort is still required to document these results under the laboratory and manufacturing practices that the FDA is likely to require. The instrument comprises passive sensors and a magnetizing system, which applies a magnetic field much less powerful than that already approved in other instruments. The correlation of the instrument reading to the underlying biological phenomena has been demonstrated in preclinical studies for selected cancer/antibody combinations. Significant effort is still required to demonstrate the translation of the preclinical results to human pilot studies. We are currently working on defining the projects required to secure regulatory approval.