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Abiant, Inc. Announces License Agreement With New York University School of Medicine

Posted on: Monday, 12 November 2007, 09:00 CST

DEERFIELD, Ill., Nov. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Abiant, Inc., an Illinois based company specializing in advanced bio-imaging to accelerate and improve drug development and disease diagnosis, announces an exclusive technology license agreement with the New York University School of Medicine. The technology involves breakthrough image analysis methods developed by leading researchers at New York University School of Medicine to reliably detect changes in critical brain regions that are predictive of the onset of Alzheimer's Disease. It also has application in oncology and other disease areas.

Dr. Mony de Leon, Director of New York University School of Medicine's Center for Brain Health, said "We believe that these methods can significantly contribute to the diagnosis of dementia patients, allowing optimal treatment and monitoring. Our relationship with Abiant provides the opportunity to commercialize these methods so that they may reach the broad patient population." Dr. Lisa Mosconi added, "There is a great need for a practical, accurate tool to diagnose and differentiate among dementias. We are excited to be working with a commercial partner to make these capabilities available."

One aspect of the technology is its ability to automatically detect changes in glucose metabolism, the brain's primary energy source, in a region called the hippocampus. Other automated techniques have failed to measure changes in this region because of the variability that occurs with age and disease. Yet, it is a critical and early indicator of dementia, allowing prediction up to eight years prior to the onset of symptoms, and is important in distinguishing between different types of dementias. Another aspect of the technology allows highly accurate measurement of changes in structure. This can be applied to neurodegenerative disorders as well as other applications such as tumor measurement in oncology. Other aspects relate to correction of cerebrospinal fluid marker measurements and processing of image data.

Dawn Matthews, President and CEO of Abiant, said "The New York University School of Medicine team has long been a leader in the use of imaging to detect Alzheimer's Disease and its precursor states. Their technology advances enable the accuracy, rater-independence, and practicality necessary to achieve broad application in drug development and diagnostics."

The work of the New York University School of Medicine researchers has been published in numerous peer-reviewed publications.

Abiant, Inc.

Abiant, Inc. uses proprietary image analysis methods and software to provide a sensitive biomarker of drug effects and disease progression. The imaging information, which includes biochemical, functional, and structural measurements, can be used to accelerate or reduce risk of decision making in both drug development and disease treatment. The Company's focus areas include the central nervous system, oncology, and inflammation. Further information can be found at http://www.abiant-imaging.com/.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release may contain "forward-looking" statements identified by words such as "will,""achieve," and "enable." There are a number of important factors that could cause Abiant's results to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements.

Abiant, Inc.

CONTACT: Dawn Matthews of Abiant, Inc., +1-847-707-0370,dcm@abiant-imaging.com

Web site: http://www.abiant-imaging.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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