VisEn Medical Announces $4M Venture Capital Financing

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Aug. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- VisEn Medical, a pioneer in the field of optical molecular imaging, today announced that it has raised $4 million of additional venture capital financing. The round was led by Flagship Ventures and included follow-on investments by Bollard Group and other existing investors. VisEn intends to use the proceeds to support the commercial launch of its initial products later this year, and to develop additional applications of its technologies. The Company also announced that Ed Kania, Managing Partner and Chairman of Flagship Ventures, has joined its board of directors.

"In the first half of 2005, we conducted a very successful pre-launch program, selling a pre-commercial version of our tomographic optical imaging system to three top-tier pharmaceutical companies and two leading academic institutions in the United States and in Europe. These five sites and about 20 additional pharmaceutical and academic customers have begun to purchase our line of molecular imaging probes," said Kirtland G. Poss, President and CEO. "We are now positioned to launch the commercial version of our imaging system and to expand the sales and marketing of our probes later this year. We also will continue to work closely with our customers and partners to develop additional applications and products based on our powerful core technologies and competencies," he continued.

VisEn's core technology platforms are designed to harness the power of optical imaging in vivo. The Company's Fluorescent Molecular Tomography ("FMT") system and optical probe portfolio use near infrared light to produce quantifiable molecular maps of disease activities deep within the body. Going beyond other imaging modalities such as CT, MRI and X-ray, VisEn's FMT system and optical probe portfolio can detect not only anatomic structures, but also biological processes at the molecular level, providing earlier, more sensitive, quantifiable measures of disease progression and therapeutic efficacy in vivo. Specifically, the FMT system enables unprecedented depth penetration and quantification of optical molecular imaging signals in vivo, and the probe portfolio enables a wide range of powerful imaging applications in disease areas including oncology, inflammation and cardiovascular disease. While VisEn's initial products are intended for small animal imaging applications used in research and preclinical studies, these same technologies will be extended over time to pharmaceutical development and clinical medicine.

"VisEn Medical is pioneering a new era in molecular imaging," said Ed Kania, Managing Partner and Chairman of Flagship Ventures. "Its products have immediate applications in a wide range of research areas, and a substantially larger future market opportunity as the technology is directly translatable to human medicine. We are pleased to have joined VisEn's team and existing investors in supporting the Company's transition to commercialization of its technology," he added.

About VisEn Medical

Founded in 2000 based on technologies developed at the Center for Molecular Imaging Research at the Massachusetts General Hospital, VisEn Medical is developing today's leading molecular imaging product platforms. The Company's proprietary FMT instrument system and optical imaging probe portfolio enable applied imaging at the molecular level. The Company's technology platforms are designed to be fundamentally translatable from animal imaging into the clinic, and its products are targeted to the molecular imaging of important disease states including oncology, bone growth, cardiovascular disease and inflammation. VisEn is headquartered in Woburn, Massachusetts. For further information please visit www.visenmedical.com.

About Flagship Ventures

Flagship Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on creating, financing, and building innovative companies in the Life Science and Technology sectors. Headquartered in Cambridge, MA, Flagship Ventures was founded in 1999 and manages $700 million in capital. Prior to its founding, Flagship's principals were involved as founders or investors in over 100 firms including: Adolor, AltaVista, Anesta, Antigenics, Aspect Medical, Astral Point, Celera Genomics, ChemGenics Pharmaceuticals, Color Kinetics, Chantry Networks, Cytyc, DataSage, Exact Sciences, IDEXX, PerSeptive Biosystems, Somatogen, Telecorp PCS and TripAdvisor. For more information, visit www.flagshipventures.com.

Contact:

Kirtland G. Poss, President and CEO
VisEn Medical, Inc.
781-932-6875 x301