Dallas, Taxas -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/29/2010 -- Imaging biomarkers, those quantified using imaging modalities including Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Positron Emission Tomography, are attractive for a variety of reasons: the methods of measurement used are non-invasive, and can provide information that cannot be obtained in other ways including a drug’s pharmacology and side effect profile, interaction of a drug and its target, delivery of a drug to its target, and the drug’s pharmacokinetic profile. In the clinical setting, imaging biomarkers can be used as a screening, diagnostic or prognostic tool as well as for monitoring treatment response.
Researchers have a vision that the introduction of imaging biomarkers will revolutionize basic research, drug development and treatment by providing non-invasive approaches that are translatable from the laboratory to the clinic and by allowing researchers and clinicians to see in great detail how drugs are behaving. The discovery and development of imaging biomarkers is an exciting and growing area and researchers across the globe are working to develop this vision.
The imaging technologies available today offer a variety of methods that can be used to quantify information and thus create useful biomarkers. Discovering the biomarker is perhaps the easy step, whilst the clinical follow up studies required to gain a better understanding of the utility of the biomarker are more complex, time consuming and expensive. This report discusses advances in key technologies, the use of imaging biomarkers in drug discovery and development and current use in clinical practice. It also outlines key collaborative initiatives in standardizing imaging technologies and informatics, improving quantification and qualification without which the vision will not be realized.
Key features of this report
Highlight some of the key technologies for imaging biomarker development in different research or clinical settings, as well as pivotal technology developments.
Analysis of the potential for using these technologies to improve drug discovery and clinical trials. The different organizational structures within pharmaceutical companies are discussed.
Analysis of imaging biomarkers currently used in clinical practice as well as the future of imaging biomarkers in this setting.
Case studies of individual imaging biomarkers and the companies or research collaborations responsible for their development.
Scope of this report
Identify key technologies for development of imaging biomarkers to assist in biomarker discovery and development
Identify the relevance of imaging biomarkers to drug discovery and development and the different organization structures being adopted by pharmaceutical companies to the implement them
Learn about the important efforts of public-private consortia that are working to develop new imaging biomarkers, qualify existing imaging biomarkers and develop standards and clarify qualification processes
Understand the potential for imaging biomarkers to improve diagnostic processes, enabling earlier disease identification and promoting preventive medicine
Discover the potential of imaging biomarkers for improving decision making and terminating unsuitable drug projects at an early stage, as well as reducing costs in clinical care
Key Market Issues
Improvements to the drug discovery and development process are needed urgently: Imaging biomarkers can be applied across the spectrum of drug discovery and development activities for validating targets, confirming mechanism of action, obtaining early indicators of bioactivity, assessing pharmacokinetic profiles, providing prognostic indicators and supporting regulatory filings and will help to improve decision making and success rates.
Improved, non-invasive clinical diagnostic tools are required to help reduce the rising costs of health care: Currently around 95% of healthcare costs go towards treatment rather than prevention. However, if more money was spent on effective prevention the economic benefit could be considerable. Imaging biomarkers may provide diagnostic tools that identify diseases earlier in their pathology, enabling preventive measures to be taken.
The development of imaging biomarkers relies on quantitative methods: whilst some imaging modalities are quantitative already, such as PET, others require specialist software or must be developed to incorporate quantification. Imaging technology developers are actively working in this field.
The development, validation and qualification of imaging biomarkers is a large task: collaborative efforts that involve all stakeholders will be required if the full potential of imaging biomarkers in clinical medicine is to be realized.
Key findings from this report
Imaging biomarkers are attractive: and are now widely used in drug discovery development and in clinical care. Imaging biomarkers provide non-invasive approaches that are translatable from the laboratory to the clinic and allow researchers and clinicians to see in great detail how drugs are behaving in vivo.
Image quantification is improving: Nuclear imaging methods – PET and SPECT – are some of the most important to the field of imaging biomarkers because they have the required sensitivity and are potentially quantitative. The development of new molecular imaging probes is a growing and exciting area. MRI has limitations in terms of sensitivity as opposed to nuclear methods, although the methods are often non-proprietary and more MRI scanners are available in clinical practice. Sensitive contrast agents for MRI need to be very sophisticated. Future improvements in sensitivity, computer aided diagnostics and standardization will improve the potential for imaging biomarkers.
Small animal imaging is a rapidly growing area in the preclinical development of new pharmaceuticals. Instrumentation to allow CT, PET, SPECT, MRI, ultrasound or optical imaging of small animals is available from a large number of suppliers and the largest pharma companies are actively developing their capabilities in this area. Some large pharma companies have also invested in dedicated clinical imaging centers, while others have chosen to outsource to specialist academic centers.
In the clinical setting, MRI represents the most highly utilized technology and includes the diversity of methods available under the MRI banner, such as MRS, DCE-MRI, diffusion weighted MRI, fMRI and arterial spin labeling. The wide availability of MRI machines in hospital settings and imaging centers also makes this an attractive technique for biomarker detection. The use of nuclear imaging methods, such as PET and SPECT, is growing. This is catalyzed by the growing availability of targeted ligands that highlight particular pathways or metabolic events.
Key questions answered
What has driven the increasing interest in imaging biomarkers in recent years?
Which imaging modalities are at the forefront of the effort to develop and utilize imaging biomarkers for clinical practice now and in the future?
To what extent can imaging biomarkers improve drug development? At which points should they be utilized and how?
What is the role of public-private consortia in driving the discovery of methods and biomarkers? What is the membership of these consortia, what are their goals and How much have they achieved to date?
What improvements in the provision of imaging services are required to enable the future use of imaging biomarkers? How does this differ in different locations?
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