The patent awarded to Senior Scientific seems to offer a generous scope, from the May 23, 2013 news item on Nanowerk,

Senior Scientific, LLC, a unit of Manhattan Scientifics and a developer of molecular imaging and nanobiotechnology for the early detection and localization of cancer and other human diseases, today announced that the United States Patent Office (USPTO) has issued U.S. Patent No. 8,447,379 entitled “Detection, measurement, and imaging of cells such as cancer and other biologic substances using targeted nanoparticles and magnetic properties thereof.”

The patent includes claims directed to detecting and measuring biological substances such as cancer cells. The methods can be used in humans, with no harmful radiation, and can find cancers much earlier than is possible with conventional technologies.

I find this comment rather interesting, from the news item,

Dr. Flynn [Edward R. Flynn], Chief Scientist of Senior Scientific, said, “I am encouraged to see my work [based on NanoMagnetic RelaxometryTM] heading to market, and pleased that we now also have this patent to protect the business.” [emphasis mine]

I did search the USPTO website for U.S. Patent No. 8,447,379 to find this,

Detection, measurement, and imaging of cells such as cancer and other biologic substances using targeted nanoparticles and magnetic properties thereof

AbstractThe present invention can provide a method of determining the presence, location, quantity, or a combination thereof, of a biological substance, comprising: (a) exposing a sample to a plurality of targeted nanoparticles, where each targeted nanoparticle comprises a paramagnetic nanoparticle conjugated with one or more targeting agents that preferentially bind with the biological substance, under conditions that facilitate binding of the targeting agent to at least one of the one or more biological substances; (b) subjecting the sample to a magnetic field of sufficient strength to induce magnetization of the nanoparticles; (c) measuring a magnetic field of the sample after decreasing the magnetic field applied in step b below a threshold; (d) determining the presence, location, quantity, or a combination thereof, of the one or more biologic substances from the magnetic field measured in step (c).

Unfortunately, this does not clarify the situation for me. It looks as if they have granted a patent for a specific method or technique but given the nature of the ‘patent wars’ I imagine this language allows a fair degree of interpretation by the company that owns the patent. In any event, you can find out more about Manhattan Scientifics (Senior Scientific’s parent company) here.