Boston Imaging Core Lab and Chondrometrics form Partnership to Extend Their Services and Advance Osteoarthritis Research

BOSTON--(Business Wire)--
Chondrometrics GmbH, Ainring, Germany, and Boston Imaging Core Lab (BICL), LLC,
Boston, MA, announced today the formation of a partnership between the two
companies in order to broaden and advance their capabilities for offering
imaging biomarker analysis to osteoarthritis researchers in academia and
pharmaceutical industry.

Chondrometrics GmbH is a leading provider of software-based quantitative medical
image analysis, with a focus on articular cartilage and other joint structures
in osteoarthritis. BICL is a leading provider of semi-quantitative radiological
reading services, which are based on advanced radiological scoring systems,
including all relevant joint tissues affected by osteoarthritis.

"We are excited about this partnership and look forward to extending our already
strong research collaboration into a closer strategic co-operation between the
two companies," said BICL President Dr. Guermazi in Boston.

"This will allow us to offer the full spectrum of osteoarthritis imaging
biomarkers, both quantitative and semi-quantitative, which recent research has
been proven to provide complimentary and synergistic rather than competing or
overlapping information in clinical trials," said Chondrometrics CEO Dr.
Eckstein.

The partnership teams Dr. Ali Guermazi, also Section Chief of Musculoskeletal
Radiology at the Department of Radiology, Boston University School of Medicine,
with Dr. Felix Eckstein, also Director of the Institute of Anatomy and
Musculoskeletal Research at Paracelsus Medical University in Salzburg Austria.
Both are internationally recognized experts in the field of osteoarthritis
imaging and pioneers of quantitative and semi-quantitative imaging biomarkers
using advanced radiological imaging techniques.

"Together, we will be able to offer a strong and comprehensive portfolio of
imaging biomarkers to our partners and clients, unmet by other providers in the
field. Also, we will use our synergies and experience to further develop and
validate advanced imaging biomarkers. This will allow our partners and clients
to detect disease risk factors in clinical trials with higher efficiency and
should accelerate the development of drugs, particularly for osteoarthritis and
other joint diseases," said both experts during a meeting in Boston on July
28th, 2009.

About Chondrometrics GmbH

Chondrometrics GmbH, a Germany-based company located in Ainring, Bavaria, is a
leading provider of quantitative medical image analysis services to researchers
in academia and the pharmaceutical industry. Their primary focus is the
quantitative analysis of articular cartilage from magnetic resonance images and
the research of osteoarthritis. The company has developed a highly efficient
software platform, and has formed a team of specialized and highly experienced
readers to provide quantitative imaging surrogates of tissue adaptation and
disease progression for large scale studies. Representatives of Chondrometrics
have published extensively in the biomedical literature in order to provide
novel and more efficient image analysis methodologies and to develop a better
understanding of musculoskeletal diseases, specifically osteoarthritis. For more
information about Chondrometrics GmbH, please visit
http://www.chondrometrics.com

About Boston Imaging Core Lab, LLC

Boston Imaging Core Lab, LLC (BICL), based in Boston, MA, is at the forefront of
providing expert semi-quantitative imaging reading services for academic
researchers and the pharmaceutical industry. BICL is dedicated to enhancing the
synergy between clinical excellence and cutting edge scientific research with a
team of expert and highly specialized radiologists. BICL readers are among the
leaders in musculoskeletal imaging with a strong focus on the application of
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in osteoarthritis research. BICL experts have
been and continue to be involved in the development of widely accepted scoring
systems for assessing disease risk and progression. In addition, BICL provides
expertise in image assessment in the fields of Oncology and Neuroradiology. For
more information about BICL, please visit http://www.bicl.org

Boston Imaging Core Lab, LLC:
Julie O'Malley
Phone: +1 508-269-4645
Email: julie.omalley@bicl.org
or
Chondrometrics GmbH:
Wolfgang Wirth
Phone: +49 175 16 16 561
Email: wirthw@chondrometrics.de

Copyright Business Wire 2009