Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, Cardinal Health : Milestone in Innovative Alzheimer's Research

March 25, 2010 — Currently, Alzheimer's disease cannot be definitively diagnosed until after death, when a brain autopsy is performed on a patient and evidence of beta-amyloid plaque deposits in the brain – which are a characteristic pathology of the disease – can be found. Accurate diagnosis during life can be challenging, particularly in the early stages of Alzheimer's, when symptoms are mild and non-definitive. However, Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, Inc. (Avid) and Cardinal Health are working together to change that.

Avid and Cardinal Health announced that more than 100 clinical centers and more than 700 patients have now participated in a Phase III clinical trial that is testing whether Avid's molecular imaging agent Florbetapir F 18 can detect Alzheimer's disease in living patients. Florbetapir F 18 (also known as 18F AV-45 and Florbetapir) is used with positron emission tomography (PET) technology to detect beta-amyloid plaque deposits in the brain... Cardinal Health's Press Release - [PDF] Avid Radiopharmaceuticals' Press Release -

Avid Radiopharmaceuticals : First Phase II Trial of Novel Compound for Imaging Alzheimer’s Disease

June 9, 2008 – Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, Inc. announced the start of a Phase II clinical trial studying 18F-AV-45, an investigational molecular imagin compound under development for imaging Alzheimer’s disease. 18F-AV-45 is used with positron emission tomography (PET) to allow visualization of the amyloid plaque deposits in the brain that are characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease. Amyloid plaque is thought to slowly accumulate in patients over years, eventually causing death of brain cells and dementia. This is the first large scale multi-center trial of an 18F-labeled PET molecular imaging agent for visualizing amyloid plaques... [PDF] Avid Radiopharmaceuticals' Press Release -