Preclinical work on hematological, vascular, and renal disease runs into the same constraint: the drug has to reach a specific place, and the study has to show that it did. Systemic dosing leaves the question open, and imaging after the fact cannot correct a delivery that missed. Two platforms at Prisys Biotech address that problem directly, Digital Subtraction Angiography (DSA) and Intraprocedural Magnetic Resonance Imaging (iMRI), and both are used in studies where the delivery step decides the result.
The Shanghai facility runs both platforms with interventional radiologists and imaging analysts on staff, so a study is designed around the target anatomy from the start.
Real-Time Intraprocedural MRI (iMRI) Navigation
Prisys Biotech has established an Intraprocedural MRI (iMRI) precision brain navigation and delivery system in Shanghai. The system supports direct-to-brain administration of gene therapies and other treatments. Because the scan runs during the procedure, the injection can be checked while it is happening, and the drug can be kept inside the target volume.
iMRI-guided administration achieves sub-millimetric accuracy. The example that carries the most weight is Huntington's Disease (HD) treatment with the gene therapy AMT-130, where researchers used iMRI guidance to inject the therapy directly into the patient's putamen and caudate nucleus, slowing disease progression. The same targeting problem appears in any structure deep enough that a freehand approach puts nearby tissue at risk.
MRI of Prisys
Direct delivery across the blood-brain barrier raises local exposure and lowers the total dose needed. That matters for payloads with a narrow window between the dose that acts and the dose that irritates, where a small shift in distribution changes the result.
The infusion can be watched as it proceeds, which lets the operator adjust the procedure while it is still reversible. The system also generates real-time coverage data for the target brain region after injection, so the record shows where the dose went and how much of the planned volume it covered.
Distribution improves when iMRI guidance is combined with Convection-Enhanced Delivery (CED). CED supplies the pressure gradient that carries a micro-dosed infusate beyond the catheter tip, and iMRI shows whether that spread stayed inside the planned structure.
Because the iMRI system uses the same technology and equipment as clinical trials, preclinical data can be translated into clinical applications without a change of platform. That covers small molecules, biologics, cell and gene therapies, nanoparticles, and nucleic acid therapies.
Prisys Biotech has collaborated with several major pharmaceutical companies on studies investigating the biodistribution and expression of gene therapies in the brains of non-human primates (NHPs), using iMRI-guided techniques to deliver AAV9 gene therapy to the striatum (putamen) for evaluation.
Digital Subtraction Angiography (DSA) For Vascular Intervention And Multi-Organ Targeted Delivery
DSA is the other platform Prisys Biotech runs for hematological, vascular, and related disease research. It provides high-resolution vascular imaging, supports minimally invasive vascular intervention, and confirms drug administration and catheter placement while the procedure is running.
DSA also does the work of model creation. Prisys Biotech has created an ischemic stroke (Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion, MCAO) model in cynomolgus monkeys by using DSA guidance to introduce an autologous thrombus into the middle cerebral artery through a femoral artery catheter. The method closely mimics human stroke pathology, with minimal trauma, fewer complications, high reproducibility, and ease of quantitative assessment. A thrombus placed under fluoroscopic control can be documented at the moment of occlusion, and that record is what makes the model reproducible from one animal to the next.
Digital Subtraction Angiography (DSA) of Prisys Biotech
The same access supports multi-organ delivery. DSA supports targeted delivery to several organs, including ureterography and target organ perfusion in renal studies, which is what allows work on kidney disease mechanisms and in-vivo efficacy of new renal drugs. For a nephrology program, that access often decides whether a mechanism study is feasible in a large animal at all.
The suite also handles interventional work. It covers cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and peripheral vascular procedures, and it can be combined with a clean operating room to form a hybrid operating room that places minimally invasive intervention and traditional surgery in one space.
Pharmacokinetic work follows from the same access. In a collaboration with a pharmaceutical partner, blood sampling through DSA-guided catheterization was used to assess drug concentration changes in vivo. Vascular access placed under imaging gives a sampling schedule that does not depend on repeated percutaneous sticks, which matters when the pharmacokinetics (PK) profile is the endpoint the study exists to measure.
Prisys Biotech's DSA-Guided Interventional Platform has validated guidewires and catheters suitable for minimally invasive delivery to various organs. Procedures are run by an interventional radiology team.
Comprehensive Imaging Platform
Prisys Biotech's clinical imaging platform extends beyond iMRI and DSA. It integrates CT scanning, Doppler ultrasound, endoscopy, and other diagnostic imaging modalities, and together these tools form a comprehensive imaging assessment system that provides multi-dimensional data for new drug development.
CT is widely used for imaging diagnostics across various body parts, excluding cardiovascular structures, including lung nodule analysis, emphysema quantification, and cranial perfusion analysis. CT also supports Nose-to-Brain Drug Delivery research by visualizing drug deposition within the nasal cavity, which is the naso-cerebral (N2B) route in practice.
CT of Prisys
Ultrasound guidance is employed for precise lumbar puncture and intrathecal access, and supports cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) collection as well as Intrathecal (IT) Injection for drug administration. Real-time needle visualization keeps the puncture at the same level between animals, which removes a source of variability in CSF concentration data.
The imaging analysis team includes former clinicians with experience in human scanning and analysis, so animal model data can be mapped onto human clinical scenarios. That background is where the predictive value of an imaging endpoint comes from.
How The Two Platforms Divide The Work
The choice between iMRI and DSA follows the target. Brain targets behind the blood-brain barrier need iMRI, because the injection has to be placed and confirmed inside a structure measured in millimeters, and CED is usually part of the same procedure. Vascular targets, organ perfusion, and catheter-based access need DSA, because the question is where a vessel runs and whether the catheter reached it.
Some programs use both. A gene therapy delivered to the striatum may need DSA for vascular access and iMRI for the injection itself, and a stroke model may need DSA for thrombus placement and MRI for infarct assessment. Running both in one facility means the imaging record for a single animal can be built in one place, on one anesthetic event.
Preclinical Innovation With Precision Imaging
Prisys Biotech provides preclinical delivery and imaging support for programs in hematological, vascular, and renal disease. The platforms above are matched to the target anatomy, and the resulting images are read by people who have made the same measurements in patients.
Animal welfare management meets international standards, with full AAALAC accreditation, and the animal welfare program covers housing and veterinary care across the colony.
If a program depends on getting a drug into a defined place and proving it arrived, the imaging question is worth settling at the protocol stage. Prisys Biotech can discuss which platform fits a given target and what the readouts would look like.
