The cornerstone of Cell>Point is metabolic imaging and therapeutic targeting through intracellular chelator technology. The company is developing universal oncology, cardiology and stroke molecular imaging agents and intracellular metallic therapeutic and radiotherapeutic agents. Cell>Point is a privately held biotechnology company headquartered in Centennial, Colorado with offices in Houston, Texas and Saratoga, California. The company's five technology platforms, ethylenedicysteine drug conjugate technology (“EC Technology”), In-Situ Hydrogel (“In Situ Hydrogel Technology”), tetraazacyclopentadecane technology (“N4 Technology”), oligosaccharide conjugate technology (“Dual Agent Technology”) and mechanism-based targeted pancreatic beta cell technology (“Beta Cell Technology”) are being developed to create new radiodiagnostic imaging agents, new intracellular therapeutic agents, and high yield delivery systems for the administration of local regional radio/chemotherapy. Each of the company's technology platforms is quite unique. In radiodiagnostic imaging, the company is developing agents for single photon emission tomography (“SPECT”) cameras, positron emission tomography (“PET”) cameras and dual agents for SPECT or PET cameras in combination with either computed tomography (“CT”) cameras or magnetic resonance imaging (“MRI”) cameras. In addition, EC Technology, N4 Technology, Dual Agent Technology and Beta Cell Technology are the foundation for the development of new targeted radiotherapeutic agents. In-Situ Hydrogel Technology is the foundation for the development of a new in-situ radio/chemotherapeutic delivery system for the treatment of inoperable or surgically nonresectable tumors.  

EC Technology

Ethylenedicysteine (EC) is a unique (lipophilic) chelator that forms exceptionally stable functional chelates and provides significant versatility for the development of cellular-targeted analogues. Cell>Point has initiated clinical trials of its first 99mTc-EC analogue, 99mTc-EC-Glucosamine (99mTc-EC-G) for radiodiagnostic imaging for tumor-specific applications in oncology. The multicenter clinical trials will compare 99mTc-EC-G /SPECT imaging with 18FDG-PET imaging for assessing and staging patients with (non-small cell) lung cancer and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

The company is also exploring the application of 99mTc-EC-G in the assessment of myocardial ischemia, myocardial viability and cardiotoxicity in animal models and has obtained anecdotal indications of usefulness for myocardial assessment during Phase 1 trials. On the therapy side, EC-G is being labeled with rhenium-187 (“cold metallic”), as an intracellular metallic therapeutic agent for NHL.

Mechanism based target assessment is crucial in cancer therapy. EC Technology diagnostic agents can assess pharmacological response and biochemical process thus providing staging, grading, treatment follow-up and assistance in the selection of patients who should be more responsive to the particular treatment being considered. The versatility of EC Technology has been demonstrated in (i) receptor targeting (EGF, ER, AR, HER 2, LH, somatostatin, transferrin, etc.), (ii) transcriptional targeting (glucosamine, deoxyglucose, doxorubicin, etc.), (iii) tissue hypoxia targeting (metronidazole), (iv) apoptosis targeting (annexin V), (v) vascular targeting (e.g. angiostatin, interferon alpha, colchicine, paclitaxel, etc.), (vi) gene expression targeting (penciclovir, 5-flurocytidine) and (vii) enzymatic targeting (cox-2, mmp-2 and mmp-9).

In Situ Hydrogel

The second technology platform, In-Situ Hydrogel, is being developed as a site specific regional chemotherapy and radiotherapy delivery system. By comparison with other hydrogel technology, In-Situ Hydrogel is unique in that it is capable of delivering a high yield dose of a therapeutic radionuclide, such as rhenium-188 (“¹⁸⁸Re”), directly to the tumor site without collateral leakage into surrounding healthy tissue. In addition, In-Situ Hydrogel is capable of simultaneously delivering a therapeutic radionuclide and chemotoxic drug to treat solid tumors and surgically unresectable tumors. The absence of post injection leakage should help reduce the side-effects experienced by the patient which are most often attributable to standard chemotherapy and external beam radiation treatment. Pre-clinical studies have demonstrated the potential of In-Situ Hydrogel as an effective high yield delivery system. The hydrogel formulation traps the radionuclide and/or chemotherapeutic drug at the tumor site immediately following administration. The radionuclide remains trapped within the polysaccharide matrix while the chemotherapeutic drug slowly releases.

N₄ Technology

The third technology platform, N4 Technology, is a covalent lipophilic technology that is being used to develop agents for the treatment of Alzheimer's, depression and neuroendocrine tumors. Cell>Point signed a collaboration agreement with Eli Lilly and Company in November 2007 to study N4 Technology in these and other preclinical applications.

Dual Agent Technology

The fourth technology platform, Dual Agent Technology, is facilitating the development of dual use diagnostic agents. For example, a single agent will combine the radiopharmaceutical for SPECT imaging with the contrast marker for MRI without interference or distortion between the radiopharmaceutical and contrast marker. The company plans to develop dual agents for use with SPECT/CT, SPECT/MRI, PET/CT and PET/MRI combination cameras. In addition, Dual Agent Technology will be used to develop special imaging agents for optical imaging and targeted radio/chemotherapy compounds.

Beta Cell Technology

The fifth technology platform, Beta Cell Technology, will be used to initially develop a diagnostic imaging agent for SPECT cameras and a therapeutic agent for the early diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer. There is a recognized need for tumor-specific imaging, with an emphasis on the detection of small invasive and pre-invasive lesions in both the normal and abnormal pancreas.