A Vancouver-based photonic technologies company called Zecotek Photonics announced yesterday that it has received an order from a major U.S. PET scanner manufacturer for one of its patented scintillation crystals.

The crystal, called a Lutetium Fine Silicate (LFS) crystal, will be used in a PET scanner being developed specifically for diagnosing Alzheimer's disease, as well as a number of other neurological and psychiatric disorders.

“With an aging population in the United States, new state-of-the-art molecular imaging technologies will play a significant role in the research, diagnosis and treatment and of disorders of the brain,” said Dr. A.F. Zerrouk, CEO of Zecotek Photonics, in a statement.
“There are only a few companies worldwide entering the commercialization of such imaging solutions and therefore for competitive reasons our new partner, a leader in this growing field, will not be named at this time. We look forward to working closely with the medical imaging device manufacturer as it rolls out a new line of state-of-the-art molecular brain imaging devices,” continued Zerrouk.

The purchase order came about as a result of meetings between the photonics company and the OEM at the Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference in San Diego. The crystals are known for their high light yields and ultra-fast decay times which allow for faster and higher-resolution operation of imaging devices.

A history with Philips
This is not the first time the company has made headlines with major OEMs. Zecotek won a 2014 copyright infringement case in a U.S. courtroom, claiming that Saint-Gobain's LYSO crystals infringe Zecotek's patent, and that Philips infringes by using those crystals in the positron emission tomography (PET) scanners it sells, according to a GlobalNewswire press release from that year.

"In addition to, or perhaps in lieu of a damages award against Philips, the lawsuit potentially offers the opportunity for a settlement agreement in return for a supply/purchase agreement with Philips for Zecotek's PET components," said Brian Marckx, Zacks analyst, at that time.

Whether or not the purchase order was placed by Philips or one of the other PET scanner manufacturers remains to be seen. According to Zecotek, the purchasing company intends to launch more than 1,000 of the specialized PET scanners over the next five years.

According to the Zecotek website, the company's management is focused on building shareholder value by commercializing over 50 patented and patent pending novel photonic technologies directly and through strategic alliances and joint ventures with leading industry partners such as Hamamatsu Photonics (Japan), the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Switzerland), the University of Washington (United States), Beijing Opto-Electronics Technology Co. Ltd. (China), NuCare Medical Systems (South Korea), and National NanoFab Center (South Korea).

The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 14 percent of the world population will suffer from neurologic disorders by 2020. As the U.S. looks for ways to care for its aging population, better tools for diagnosing these conditions become increasingly vital.

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