This study took advantage of the high polarization of MagniXene®
to explore the dynamics of xenon uptake
into the lung parenchyma and blood in rabbits.
The Chemical Shift of xenon allows for distinguishing NMR frequencies
between gas phase (GP) and dissolved phase (DP)
and separating their MRI images.
Dr. Kai Ruppert and his colleagues explored the time evolution
of the gas-exchange in rabbit lungs, in healthy subjects and a lung disease model.
Xemed has delivered one XeBox xenon polarizing system to the University of Pennsylvania.
The research group led by Dr. Rahim Rizi
accepted the polarizer
upon independently confirming
polarization over 48%
at a flow rate of 4.5 liters of xenon per hour.
Xemed’s XeBox is fully automated,
controlled by the end-user
through a touch-screen interface
for selecting the batch volume,
xenon type (natural or isotopically-enriched),
and xenon flow rate.
Xemed’s fourth generation XeBox polarizer, Hawking, reached two critical milestones this spring.
Delivered and installed in 2011 at the Center for In-Vivo Hyperpolarized Gas at the University of Virginia,
it completed its fourth year of service on April 25, 2015.
Also in April it produced its 1000th liter of Xemed’s Investigational New Drug MagniXene
since formal pilot studies and clinical trials began in February 2012.
Production volumes of 2 liters to 2.75 liters,
typically produced during 20 to 30 minute runs
and distributed among three or four dosing bags,
were utilized in a wide range of imaging protocols
studying a variety of lung disease states.
Polarization over the four year period reached maximal values of 59.4%
with a median value of 41.4%, measured in the bags.
The hyperpolarized gas human lung imaging team at Robarts Research Institute and University of Western Ontario
The Office of Clinical Trials of Health Canada has issued its “No Objection Letter” to two clinical trial protocols
developed by Xemed and its Canadian collaborators, clearing the way for a new international branch of its research
investigations into clinical indications for its hyperpolarized 129Xe magnetic resonance imaging agent MagniXene™.
Earlier in the summer, Xemed had submitted a “Drug Master File” on MagniXene™ to Health Canada to begin the two-step
regulatory filing process.
Kai Ruppert (UVa), Isabel Dregely (UNH), and Bill Hersman (UNH and Xemed) at the ISMRM Young Investigator Award ceremony
MagniXene® single-breath MR image of a 22 y.o. female healthy volunteer. 0.7L bolus, voxel size =3.1 x 3.1 x 10mm. GRE image acquired using the Siemens Tim Trio at the Center for In-Vivo Hyper-polarized Gas Studies at the University of Virginia.
Image credits: T. A. Altes, G. W. Miller, J. P. Mugler, III, K. Ruppert
Xemed CEO Bill Hersman checks polarizer status
with undergraduate intern Igor Tsentalovich