Eckert & Ziegler acquires the Analytic Instrumentation and Radiochemistry Equipment Business from American market leader Bioscan, Inc.

Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik AG, specialists in radioactive pharmaceuticals and their production technology, has entered into an agreement with Bioscan, Inc., located in Washington, D.C., to acquire its radiopharmaceutical equipment business. The transaction involves both analytical instruments used in quality assurance of radioactive pharmaceuticals and automated radiopharmaceutical synthesis units. Such equipment is used worldwide in the production of radiolabeled molecular imaging agents used in nuclear medicine.

Eckert & Ziegler Radiopharma Board member, Dr. André Heß, explained: "The products we have acquired ideally enhance our developing equipment business and ensure we can offer our customers system solutions for the production and quality assurance of radiopharmaceuticals. By such an investment we are broadening our commitment to the North American market."

"Bioscan has been a leading player in radioanalytic and radiochemistry instrumentation for more than thirty years. Over the past five years, the company has increasingly focused on its fast-growing molecular imaging business", commented Alex Kleinman, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for Bioscan. "Today's transaction will enable Bioscan to increase investment in its rapidly expanding preclinical imaging product line. We are pleased to be able to entrust our radiopharmaceutical equipment business and the thousands of customers that use Bioscan radioanalytic and radiochemistry instruments every day to a market leader like Eckert & Ziegler."

Radiopharmaceuticals are used in so-called positron emission tomography (PET) to ensure swift and accurate identification of cancerous tissue and neurodegenerative disease. A large number of radiopharmaceuticals are currently in the development pipeline and consequently the associated equipment market continues to grow. In addition to its radiopharmaceutical synthesis equipment business, Eckert & Ziegler has several Fluorine-18 PET radiopharmaceutical production locations in Germany and also supplies research institutes worldwide with its Gallium-68 (PET) radio nuclide generators for nuclear imaging In addition to these radio-diagnostic products Eckert & Ziegler also markets the EMEA approved product Yttriga, an Yttrium-90 precursor for numerous radiotherapeutic products.

Source: Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik AG