May 7, 2008 - GE Healthcare signed a nonexclusive agreement with Merck & Co. to share technology on imaging of the lungs that may help to advance respiratory treatment development, granting Merck access to Spin Signal Technology (SST) utilizing hyperpolarized Xenon 129 gas, a molecular imaging agent that is under investigation by GE to provide high speed, quantitative imaging of the lung using MRI.
GE Healthcare originally licensed this technology from Princeton University. This technology is being evaluated to determine if it can provide more sensitive information than currently available tests on how diseased lungs function, by using Xenon, a gas that can be modified with the SST to be detectable with MRI. With this technology, MRI delivers images that may provide clinical value by allowing regional imaging of disease. This information could enhance that provided by FEV1, the volume exhaled during the first second of a forced expiratory maneuver.
This agreement is part of GE Healthcare's strategy of helping to accelerate the development of new therapeutics by improving Pharma access to novel molecular imaging agents to assess the impact of potential drugs in animal models and, when appropriate, human subjects.
For more information: www.gehealthcare.com
March 13, 2026 
