Cardinal Health is launching the Center for the Advancement of Molecular Imaging, its new laboratory, which it plans to open in July 2011. The company is previewing the new center at this week's SNM annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas.

The campus, located in Phoenix, Ariz., will be a destination for pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions to access Cardinal’s scientists, engineers and manufacturing experts. The center’s technology, infrastructure and capabilities will seek to develop, test and commercialize new radiopharmaceuticals and PET biomarkers.

“Our goal is for pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions to come to the center with a concept for a new imaging agent,” said John Rademacher, president of Cardinal’s nuclear pharmacy services unit.

The campus will house large-scale PET production capabilities and stand-alone laboratory space to allow the company’s partners to conduct confidential experiments. Once new PET drugs are FDA-approved, pharmaceutical companies and research institutions also will have access to Cardinal’s network of manufacturing facilities and its 155 nuclear pharmacies.