The biotechnology company IMRE Corp. was formed in Seattle in 1981 as Immune Response Systems, Inc., by a group of scientific investigators from various institutions across the country. IMRE moved to San Diego in 1996 and changed its name to Cypress Bioscience.

In the early 1980s, IMRE Corp. invented a device for filtering a person’s blood to strengthen the immune system. The device, called the Prosorba Column, was initially approved by the FDA in 1987 and eventually approved to treat various diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and the bleeding disorder idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. The Prosorba Column went out of production in 2006.

This photo shows Joseph Balint, Jr., IMRE’s director of device development, holding up a Prosorba Treatment Column at the IMRE office in downtown Seattle. Balint became vice-president of research and development of IMRE Corp. the following year.

Caption information source: IMRE hopes new blood filter will aid cancer, AIDS victims, Seattle Times, April 5, 1984, p. 67
Caption information source: "On the Move," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 16, 1994, p E3.