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Positron Seeks To Grow Share in Molecular Imaging Market

Fishers, Indiana based Positron Corporation is a molecular imaging company focused on nuclear medicine, particularly in cardiology. Nuclear medicine is unique from other imaging modalities such as x-rays, CT (Computerized Tomography) scans, and MRIs; it detects radiation coming from within the body rather than producing radiation. This procedure allows doctors to view internal organs and analyze their function in real time.

Nuclear imaging is performed with a PET (Positron Emission Tomography) or SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography) scanners. They detect emissions from small amounts of radioactive chemicals, or radiopharmaceuticals that have been injected, swallowed, or inhaled by the patient. PET and SPECT imagers may be coupled with CT scanners in the clinical setting to provide anatomical correlation.

Positron has a suite of offerings in the nuclear medicine field, led by the Attrius®, a dedicated PET imaging system, optimized for cardiology imaging. Its PosiRx™ an automated radiopharmaceutical system that prepares and dispenses once performed manually, increasing efficiencies, reduces costs and reducing employee radiation exposure. Positron’s Tech-Assist™ device is designed to distance the employee from the source of injection therefore reducing radiation exposure during the FDG radiopharmaceutical injection process. The Company also manufactures radiopharmaceuticals at their research and development facility in Crown Point, Indiana. 

PET scans are now an important tool, especially in the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease. This highly accurate, non-invasive procedure is used to both detect and identify the stage of a patient’s heart disease. Through early detection, timely treatment and disease management can help prevent the onset of heart attack or stroke. Favorable reimbursement has fueled the adoption of PET by cardiology groups across the country. 

Positron CEO Patrick Rooney took time out to answer a few of my questions today, explaining the market opportunities for his company as well as the benefits of its imaging solutions.
 

Jason: The PET category looks to gain significant share from SPECT, how large is the PET/SPECT market in dollar terms and what share does Positron believe it can obtain in the PET market?

Patrick: In regards to imaging devices, there are approximately 14,000 SPECT scanners in the US and approximately, 140 dedicated PET only devices in the US. Due to recent increase in cardiac PET reimbursement, and a decrease in SPECT reimbursement, there has been a shift to cardiac PET. Majority of all the industry would agree that PET is the future of nuclear cardiology. We believe the demand for SPECT cameras in the US will decrease and PET scanners will increase. We estimate the demand for PET scanners to grow to between 2,000 and 5,000 over the next decade. At 2,000 PET systems, the market for hardware is a multi-billion dollar market. The market for pharmaceuticals (as reported by a 2010 Bio-tech Systems report) put US sales of SPECT and PET radiopharmaceuticals at $1.16 billion in 2009, with projections to rise to $4.76 billion by 2017.

Jason: The Attrius machine is aimed at the cardiovascular market but is being expanded into neurology, are there plans to look into other areas - perhaps oncology?

Patrick: The Attrius can image oncology and neurology studies. We have focused the Attrius system to be optimized for cardiac studies in order to capitalize on market trends, however the Attrius can also serve the neurological and oncology markets well.

Jason: Although PET is different from CT and MRI, do they compete - and if so, to what extent?

Patrick: These different modalities are not direct competitors.

PET is a type of nuclear medicine imaging procedure that provides information about the function and metabolism of the body's organs; CT and MRIs primarily show anatomy and structure. PET is also growing in its use for MPI (Myocardial Perfusion Imaging), a non-invasive test that utilizes a small amount of radioactive material (radiopharmaceutical) injected into the body to depict the distribution of blood flow to the heart. MPI is used to identify areas of reduced blood flow (perfusion) to the heart muscle. The test is typically conducted under both rest and stress conditions, after which physicians examine and compare the two scans and predict whether the patient has significant coronary artery disease. Although SPECT is most commonly used for MPI, PET imaging has gained considerable support and use in the field of cardiovascular imaging, as it offers many advantages to SPECT, including higher spatial and contrast resolution, which results in higher image quality and improved diagnostic precision, accurate attenuation correction and risk stratification.

Jason: Radiopharmaceuticals is a large market, how significant is it to Positron?

Patrick: Pharmaceuticals are very significant to Positron as the Company’s objective are to provide radiopharmaceuticals and PET systems thereby offering a total solution to private practices, pharmacies and hospitals.

Positron’s PosiRx system prepares and dispenses unit dose radiopharmaceuticals to the pharmacy and or physician/practice. In effect the PosiRx system is a virtual pharmacy. Currently the products targeted are for cardiac SPECT. Cardiac SPECT imaging is the most widely used modality at this time with approximately 14,000 scanners in use with over 16 million doses per year in the US alone. 

Jason: PosiRx is designed for SPECT, will that product become less important with the anticipated decline of SPECT?

Patrick: We don't see it as less important. The SPECT market is still an accepted and a very viable basic imaging modality, that we anticipate being a large part of nuclear cardiology for many years. We are a distributer of SPECT imaging drugs and PET imaging systems with plans to enter into the PET radiopharmaceutical market. The market is established and there is clearly room for SPECT and PET improvement in efficiencies combined with the reduction of expenses, therefore increasing the demand for the PosiRx. The PosiRx brings the pharmacy into the imaging suite, it allows for the bypassing of traditional methods of radiopharmaceutical distribution in an effort to reduce overall costs. 

Jason: How is Attrius better than current PET scanners?

Patrick: Let me state that the Attrius is the only new dedicated PET system in the world; currently when speaking of PET scanners the reference implied is a PET/CT scanners. When imaging the heart a PET/CT scan is not necessary; using a dedicated PET image reduces the additional radiation found in traditional CT imaging. The Attrius has many virtues that makes it the system of choice for cardiac imaging, and a valuable tool in all imaging modalities. The Attrius offers high sensitivity, small footprint and is less expensive in unit cost, service/maintenance and operational expenses. The Attrius is approved by the FDA and has been awarded Frost and Sullivan’s 2010 ‘Most Innovative Medical Device’.