Immunicon's CellTracks Analyzer II Wins Medical Design Excellence Award

Huntingdon Valley, PA - Immunicon Corporation announced that its CellTracks Analyzer II received a 2006 Medical Design Excellence Award in the category of In Vitro Diagnostics. The CellTracks Analyzer II is a semi-automated fluorescence microscope used to count and characterize fluorescently labeled cells that are immuno-magnetically selected and aligned. It is currently used by clinicians and research settings in conjunction with the CellTracks AutoPrep system and specific reagent kits in the diagnosis of patients with metastatic breast cancers.

The Medical Design Excellence Awards competition is organized and presented by Canon Communications LLC of Los Angeles, and is the only awards program that exclusively recognizes contributions and advances in the design of medical products. Entries are evaluated on the basis of their design and engineering features, including innovative use of materials, user-related functions that improve healthcare delivery and change traditional medical attitudes or practices, features that provide enhanced benefits to the patient, and the ability of the product development team to overcome design and engineering challenges so the product meets its clinical objectives.

Byron Hewett, President and Chief Executive Officer for Immunicon, said: "We are gratified that this award recognizes the relevance of our technology for oncologists and researchers. Previously, they could monitor the status of metastatic cancers and response to treatment only through subjective interpretation of imaging scans which are conducted typically every three to six months. The CellTracks(R) Analyzer II is part of a suite of products that determines the presence of Circulating Tumor Cells in a patient's bloodstream and provides new information for disease management after each cycle of therapy. This is a design which truly can change traditional medical practice and encourage more effective treatment of metastatic cancers."

A comprehensive review of the entries was performed by an impartial, multidisciplinary panel of third-party jurors with expertise in biomedical engineering, human factors, industrial design, medicine and diagnostics.

The 2006 Medical Design Excellence Award winners will be honored at a June 7 ceremony during the Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) East Conference and Exposition in New York City's Javits Convention Center.

SOURCE: Immunicon Corporation