Abstract
This Health Industry Insights report examines the current and future
applications of molecular imaging (MI) in clinical drug development and
identifies areas in which technological advances will increase and broaden the
clinical use of MI.
Noninvasive molecular measurements are becoming an integral part of rational
decision making in the clinical evaluation of promising new drugs. MI
techniques such as MRI, PET, CT, SPECT, ultrasound, and optical imaging are
increasingly being used to connect evaluation of the molecular target in the
lab to the metabolism of the compound in the body. MI offers a new level of
understanding of how drug development candidates directly affect specific
biological processes within the human body, providing insights early in the
drug development process.
With increasing information, however, comes increasing complexity in both
instrumentation and subsequent analysis. Through better knowledge-based drug
development, MI is expected to make the pharmaceutical development more
efficient and more productive.
"Noninvasive molecular imaging promises to transform the drug development
process by providing direct visualization of the specific interactions of new
drugs (both good and bad) within the human body," said Alan Louie, Ph.D.,
research director responsible for Health Industry Insights' research on
technology solutions for drug discovery.