ART secures first direct sale in Europe for Optix MX2 molecular imaging system

December 21, 2007, Montreal, Canada--ART Advanced Research Technologies received an order from a European client for its recently released preclinical optical molecular imaging system, the Optix MX2. This represents the first Optix unit sold in Europe by ART under its new commercial strategy.

"In Europe, as in the rest of the world, optical molecular imaging is leading the way when it comes to reducing drug development costs and helping to get new treatments to market faster," stated Sebastien Gignac, President and CEO of ART. "The interest from European research centres in our Optix MX2 system has been palpable, especially since Rik van Heijningen, Director of European Commercial Operations, has come on board to implement our new direct commercialization strategy in Europe. This sale to an important cancer and cardiovascular disease research centre in Europe confirms this interest."

"ART has the most sensitive optical imaging system in the market, and we believe that researchers are realizing the real value of the data set they are acquiring through the Optix system, which is enhancing their results considerably," said Dino DiCamillo, ART's Vice President, Global Sales & Marketing for Preclinical Imaging. "In the case of new cancer therapies being developed, ART's technology can allow researchers to non-invasively see changes on the molecular level long before they become visible by anatomic imaging."