Abstract
Molecular imaging has become an increasingly indispensable tool in life
sciences basic research, in translational medicine, and in routine medical
diagnostics. This Biomedical Imaging report covers its top applications areas:
medical diagnosis and translational research both relevant to pharmacology and
drug development. This report:
- Reviews the current and emerging technologies of bioimaging
- Focuses on the use of molecular imaging in drug discovery and development
from cell-based screening to clinical trials
- Presents clinical and diagnostic applications in use today and tomorrow' s
trends
- Evaluates regulatory issues surrounding validating molecular imaging
biomarkers
- Provides profiles of industry players that develop and/or market equipment
or probes for cellular, small animal, or clinical imaging
- Provides projections of likely bioimaging developments that will drive the
field during the 2010s
Today, bioimaging technologies are not only a valuable tool for translational
research; they have become an integral part of defining how, and with which
precise goal in mind, drugs and medical devices are developed. Imaging has
reached far upstream into the drug development pipeline, pervading preclinical
and discovery-stage animal studies and reaching back to the earliest stages:
lead optimization and even compound screening. In clinical studies, bioimaging
has become all but omnipresent, providing an enormous amount of
patient-specific information that, if linked to clinical and behavioral
parameters, can often aid in a proof-of-concept understanding of
investigational drugs.
Biomedical Imaging: From Drug Target Discovery to Medical Diagnostics
describes the technologies of bioimaging, which have evolved to visualize a
broad variety of functional parameters, mapping them to anatomical structures
that are thereby "tagged" with additional information of high biological
relevance. Equipment and methodology are diverse, comprising the most advanced
confocal microscopes for spotting intracellular fluorescence signals,
ultrasound probes with computerized attenuation correction, scanners that
combine PET or SPECT with x-ray CT or MR, near-infrared optical molecular
imaging, and "4D" time series of 3D reconstructions from tomographic slices.
This report addresses the use of molecular imaging in drug discovery and
development from cell-based screening to clinical efficacy trials, now and
into the next decade. Applications to the pharmaceutical industry start with
target and lead discovery and characterization, continue into translational
research, and end with therapy monitoring for approved drugs.
Biomedical Imaging: From Drug Target Discovery to Medical Diagnostics analyzes
diagnostic bioimaging uses in the physician' s office or nuclear medicine
centers, including cancer staging, planning, and response assessment;
cardiorespiratory and vascular imaging; neuroimaging; and molecular imaging
for eye diseases, arthritis, diabetes, and HIV. The report also discusses the
market parameters for PET procedures, which are the key economic driver for
clinical molecular bioimaging.
The US FDA has developed detailed rules for every aspect of diagnostic
bioimaging and specific rules for PET tracers and tomographic scanners. This
report reviews the regulatory background and analyzes the problems faced in
validating imaging molecular biomarkers and getting them accepted. Also
included are results from a Web survey that outlines the expectations of
researchers and managers in the molecular bioimaging field.
Biomedical Imaging: From Drug Target Discovery to Medical Diagnostics
concludes with projects of likely developments that will drive this
fascinating field during the 2010s.
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