Previously known as Diatech Inc and traded on NASDAQ as NITI, Diatide, Inc. became part of Berlex Laboratories when acquired by Schering Berlin, Inc. (U. S.), a business unit of Schering AG (Germany) in October 1999. The firm's research and novel line of site-specific radiopharmaceuticals extend the Berlex focus in the area of nuclear medicine. Diatide Research Laboratories, now a research arm of Berlex, a pioneer in the imaging marketplace, specializes in peptide engineering, molecular biology and radiolabeling chemistry to develop disease-specific diagnostic and therapeutic agents. Known as "smart drugs," these agents consist of small molecule peptides that bind with high affinity and specificity to targets on diseased tissue. The peptides have a radioisotope attached for imaging or therapeutic purposes. The ultimate goal of such research: to find, follow and fight specific diseases. The first Diatide imaging products in this area are: - AcuTect®, (Kit for the Preparation of Technetium Tc 99m Apcitide Injection), the first radiopharmaceutical to target acute deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in the lower extremities of patients with signs and symptoms of acute DVT. - NeoTect(tm), (Kit for the Preparation of Technetium Tc 99m Depreotide Injection), a noninvasive diagnostic radiopharmaceutical used to identify somatostatin receptor bearing pulmonary masses in patients presented with pulmonary lesions on CT and / or chest x-ray who have known malignancy or are highly suspect for maligancy.Research in this area now continues at Berlex and consists of exploring methods of utilizing peptide technology to treat lesions identified by such imaging procedures.
