MicroMRI has pooled its intellectual property and FDA-approved product with intellectual property from the University of Pennsylvania. The company‘s technology images bone in vivo for the discovery of bone-related pharmaceutical products and detection and treatment of osteoporosis and bone metabolic disorders. The company’s first product is the Virtual Bone Biopsy (“VBB”), an MRI technology which magnifies achievable resolution by a hundred-fold over existing MRI scanners. That capability enables a non-invasive assessment of the architectural connectivity of bone, as well as bone density. That is critical to determining bone strength and monitoring therapy in bone metabolic conditions such as osteoporosis. Current market technologies measure only bone density, a parameter insufficient in predicting fractures. Most patients sustain osteoporotic fractures while their density scores remain normal. Bone density is also not useful as a monitoring tool, as it takes up to five years to notice statistically significant changes in density due to therapy.

The company successfully completed a number of clinical trial services for major pharmaceutical companies, using the VBB to assess the performance capabilities of drugs indicated for osteoporosis.

The second, and by far the larger market, will be placement of bone scanners, of which 5,000 are sold annually in the U.S. In 2008 MicroMRI received 501(k) clearance of its Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Wrist Coil Device from the FDA. The Wrist Coil, which could be part of an add-on kit to the GE Healthcare, Philips and Siemens Medical Solutions MRI systems and Siemens Medical Solutions MRI systems, would allow the acquisition of high-resolution MRI images in the visualization of trabecular bone microarchitecture.

Mr. Cahn chairs the board of directors.

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