601EC technology. The joint goal is to develop a cost-effective, readily accessible
molecular imaging technology that can help more clinics and hospitals accurately
diagnose cancer and pre-screen patients for therapy.
Scientists at various European centers have demonstrated the ability to image a
selective increase in uptake of intravenously administered Tc-99 m-rh-Annexin V
(North American Scientifi c Inc’s Hynic Annexin) within 1 day of chemotherapy in
the responding portion of a tumor subsequently confi rmed by a partial response to
chemotherapy on a CT scan 6 weeks later. There is a good correlation between the
degree of uptake of Hynic-Annexin V measured on images of head and neck tumors
and the degree of cell death in the tumors demonstrated on microscopic examina-
tion following surgical removal of the tumors. While the Company is awaiting clini-
cal follow-up data from patients enrolled in its European Phase II study of early
assessment of response to treatment in patients with non-small cell lung cancer, the
range of annexin image fi ndings to date show both response and non-response in
study subjects. These fi ndings have been correlated with clinical results of treat-
ment. Molecular imaging would provide the possibility of tailoring anticancer drug
therapy on a patient-by-patient basis in accordance with their response.
Molecular Imaging and CNS Drug Development
There are several examples of the usefulness of molecular imaging in CNS drug
development. Use of PET in drug development can unravel the disease mechanism,
measure the disease progression, demonstrate drug action in vivo and enable the
defi ning of drug-response curves for phase I and phase II studies. This can speed up
drug development. The imaging agent PK11195 (GE Healthcare Bioscience) binds
to peripheral benzodiazepine sites at microglia (20 % of all non-neuronal cells in the
brain) that are activated by injury or disease. Some applications of this technique as
well as other imaging techniques in various CNS diseases are:
Multiple Sclerosis 11 C-PK11195 can pick up infl ammatory changes in both optic
nerves in multiple sclerosis patients, which are not shown on ordinary MRI. It fulfi ls
the need for marker as a guide to interferon therapy of these patients.
Parkinson Disease (PD) 11 C-PK11195 PET can be used to follow the progression
of infl ammation in Parkinson disease and its response to various therapies.^18 F-dopa
PET can follow the progression of the disease from detection of dopamine defi cit in
an asymptomatic PD twin to clinical manifestations 5 years later. This method can
also be used to test the effect of neuroprotective drugs in PD. Infusion of glial cell-
derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) into the putamen of PD patients demonstrates
signifi cant increases in^18 F-dopa uptake following 2 years of GDNF infusion.
Alzheimer Disease (AD) 11 C-PK11195 binding correlates with atrophy of left
temporal lobe shown on MRI in AD patients and the course can be followed over a
long period. It provides a chance to test various drugs and determine their action,
e.g., if they have any neuroprotective effect.^18 F-FDDNP, a hydrophobic radiofl uo-
rinated derivative of 2-(1-[6-(dimethylamino)-2-naphthyl]ethylidene)malononitrile
Role of Life Sciences Industries