TECHNOLOGIES IN DEVELOPMENT

We have exclusive or shared licenses to several patented technologies with significant market potential.

• LOIS™ Laser Opto-acoustic Imaging System - is a platform technology for cancer imaging which, in it's breast cancer application it is a superior form of mammography that provides the radiologist with important new diagnostic information. LOIS™ will remove the necessity for a substantial portion of the surgical biopsies performed to detect breast cancer, 80% of which are negative. When biopsies are called for, guidance by LOIS™ will make needle biopsies, which are less invasive than surgical biopsies, highly effective at isolating potentially dangerous tissue. Optoacoustic imaging also promises to be useful for guiding of biopsies to prove or disprove the presence of cancer in the prostate. Initial development has been funded by multiple NIH grants for breast and prostate cancer applications. A prototype system has been developed and tested on phantoms, excised tissue and cancer patients.

• The VariTrac™ coronary artery atherectomy and stent system - this technology will potentially provide the next generation in rotational atherectomy products which will provide superior efficiencies in treating difficult coronary artery lesions without requiring bypass surgery. The core of the technology is a compelling tip design which combines adjustable size while it is in the patient and superior flexibility, which improves navigation. In addition, the device will include a stent on the atherectomy sheath to allow maximal debulking and stent placement without interchanging catheters.

Additional technologies, available to us as a result of our close relationships with the institutions in the Texas Medical Center, are under evaluation.