Bracco Diagnostics, the U.S. subsidiary of Bracco Imaging, announced this week that Lumason, the company’s ultrasound contrast agent, has received Vizient’s Innovative Technology designation. The designation was determined by reviews of Lumason at Vizient’s Innovative Technology Expo in November 2015.

Lumason, which received FDA approval back in April, was previously known as SonoVue

“We are very pleased and proud to receive this designation by Vizient, and to offer Vizient's members and their healthcare professionals, the benefits of our contrast enhanced ultrasound agent,” Vittorio Puppo, Bracco Diagnostics CEO and president, said in a prepared statement. “This offering further demonstrates our commitment to improve patient care in the United States.”

“Vizient is committed to providing the members we serve with leading-edge technologies that deliver new clinical and operational benefits from what is currently available in the market today,” Debbie Archer, MBA, Vizient director of procurement and leader of the Innovative Technology program for suppliers, said in the same statement. “After reviewing Bracco Diagnostics Inc. and Lumason at our annual Innovative Technology Expo, the hospital experts who attended agreed the product offers unique and incremental benefits over other products available on the market today, and recommended it for the Innovative Technology designation.”

More information about Vizient’s Innovation Technology distinction can be read on the company’s website.