A Robust and Advancing Molecular Imaging Pipeline
At Lantheus Medical Imaging, we are committed to investing in the field of diagnostic imaging and developing the next generation of imaging agents to advance patient care. With proven expertise in discovering and developing imaging solutions, Lantheus is focused on addressing the need for improved medical imaging tools and building on its foundation of pioneering research and development. Our clinical development efforts include a promising program to develop a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) myocardial perfusion imaging agent, which has completed Phase 2 clinical trials, as well as programs in the areas of heart failure and vulnerable plaque. We believe that our next generation medical imaging tools can ultimately provide physicians with improved non-invasive and cost-effective options to help diagnose and evaluate cardiovascular disease.
About PET Technology
PET is an imaging technology that, with an appropriate radiopharmaceutical imaging agent, can provide important insights into physiologic and metabolic processes in the body. PET has demonstrated broad utility for diagnosis, prognosis, disease staging and therapeutic response. PET data are typically quantitative, and exhibit very high image resolution. PET, with an appropriate imaging agent, is useful in evaluating a variety of conditions — including neurological disease, heart disease and cancer1.
Today, most heart imaging procedures use SPECT technology. Although SPECT provides substantial clinical value, there is growing interest in the medical community to utilize technology such as PET that can provide meaningful advantages. PET imaging has gained considerable support in the field of cardiovascular imaging, as it offers many advantages to SPECT imaging, including higher image quality, quantitative myocardial blood flow information, and improved diagnostic accuracy2.
PET Perfusion Agent: Flurpiridaz F 18
Flurpiridaz F 18 (formerly known as BMS747158) is a novel cardiac PET imaging agent candidate that has completed Phase 2 clinical development. This agent has the potential to be an important new clinical tool for the evaluation of myocardial perfusion with PET imaging technology to better evaluate patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease (CAD). CAD is the leading cause of death in the United States for both men and women3.
Flurpiridaz F-18 has completed a Phase 2 clinical trial, and analysis of the full data set will be presented at ICNC10 - Nuclear Cardiology and Cardiac CT Conference scheduled for May 15-18, 2011 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Preliminary Phase 2 data were presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) in June 2010. These data showed that PET imaging with flurpiridaz F-18 provided better image quality than technetium-99m sestamibi single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), the current standard for the non-invasive detection of CAD. No serious adverse events attributable to flurpiridaz F-18 injection were reported in Phase 1 or Phase 2 clinical trials. Numerous other abstracts based on single-center evaluation of flurpiridaz F-18 data were presented at various medical conferences in 2010.
PET Cardiac Neuronal Imaging Agent: LMI 1195
LMI 1195 is a new cardiac neuronal PET imaging agent that has completed Phase 1 clinical trials. LMI 1195 is a novel F-18 small molecule tracer designed to use PET imaging technology to improve the evaluation and management of patients with heart failure.
Preliminary Phase 1 study results presented at the SNM annual meeting in June 2010 show that LMI 1195 has favorable safety, dosimetry and tolerability profiles. In addition, LMI 1195 provided high-quality, well-defined three-dimensional images of the autonomic nervous system of the heart. The data also showed that myocardial uptake of LMI 1195 was high and uniform throughout the heart and the radiotracer cleared quickly from the blood.
Vascular Remodeling Imaging Agent
We are currently exploring a non-invasive imaging agent that may be useful in identifing patients at risk of sudden cardiac death due to plaque rupture. We have identified a method to view and assess the coronary arterial vasculature using a compound that binds to elastin, a protein found in artery walls. In animal models, the molecule enables visualization of the full thickness of arterial walls in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan.
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