Corporate | 22 December 2005 15:19

Eckert & Ziegler AG and Charité Cooperate in Radio-Pharmaceutical Products

Corporate-news transmitted by DGAP. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. —————————————————————————— Berlin, 22.12.2005 The Berlin university hospital Charité and Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik AG (ISIN DE 0005659700) will cooperate more closely in the future in the development of radio-pharmaceutical products. An agreement concluded today provides that the company, based in the Berlin borough of Pankow, will be able to use Charité’s cyclotron and parts for the radio-pharmaceutical infrastructure to proof-test new synthetic modules for this purpose. Moreover, both institutions intend to cooperate more closely in the future in the production of diagnostic radio-pharmaceutical products. The synthetic modules serve the automated and remote-controlled production of radioactive contrast media for positron emission tomography (PET), a medical- image-generating procedure of very great significance and high resolution. It is increasingly important in Germany, since it enables diagnosis of such illnesses as cancer or Alzheimer’s earlier and with considerably greater precision than was possible with other procedures. The increasing availability of PET cameras is the reason that the demand for automation technology for the production of the base materials is also on the rise. As the leading manufacturer worldwide of facilities for handling and processing radioisotopes, Eckert & Ziegler Eurotope GmbH provides a universally applicable, flexibly configurable new equipment system under the brand name “Modular-Lab.” “The principal advantage of Modular-Lab is that hospitals and research institutes can carry out their nuclide syntheses in pharmaceutical quality and with the appropriate radiation shielding, without losing the flexibility provided by manual procedures, to which they are accustomed,” Eckert & Ziegler Eurotope GmbH General Manager Dr. André Hess explained. “Moreover, the user can either configure or change the system himself, or access a library of pre- validated synthesis paths. With the aid of our equipment system, it will be possible to move new innovative radio-pharmaceutical products from development to practical application considerably faster than has been the case to date. However, the applications are not restricted to the PET sector. Modular-Lab also opens up new possibilities for process automation in the area of conventional radio-pharmaceutical products.” Your contact: Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik AG Karolin Riehle, Public Relations, Robert-Rössle-Str. 10, D-13125 Berlin Tel.: +49 (0) 30 / 94 10 84-138, Fax -112, e-mail: karolin.riehle@ezag.de, www.ezag.de End of announcement (c)DGAP 22.12.2005 —————————————————————————— WKN: 565970; ISIN: DE0005659700; Index: Listed: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin- Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover und Stuttgart