Advances in Radiotracers

The next generation of PET imaging agents might herald an age when PET will eclipse SPECT as the “go to” modality for molecular imaging, according to  Thijs Spoor, chairman, CEO and president of FluoroPharma, a company developing new PET radiotracers. He explained PET will do so by enabling personalized medicine through precision diagnostics, the ability to be delivered cost-effectively in a manner with less radiation to patients, by leveraging hardware advances already being commercialized. PET also is taking advantage of the extra throughput capacity present in the U.S. installed base of PET/CT scanners.

Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) created the oncology business for PET, and its growth was explosive, Spoor said. But while FDG is clinically very good, he says it is not perfect. It does not work on all cancers and only provides a look at the basic metabolism.  This is opening the door for the next generation of oncology agents that are specific to cancers not well-characterized by FDG.

“While there is buzz around new PET agents in neurology for detecting beta amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease, it is cardiology that presents some of the most exciting opportunities for PET,” Spoor said. “New cardiac PET agents promise robust, reproducible and dependable results in everyday cardiology practices and the need for these agents is mind-boggling.”

Cardiovascular disease is the single largest cause of global mortality, causing more than 17 million deaths each year, exacting an annual financial cost around the globe of a staggering $863 billion. In the United States alone, 729,000 people die from cardiovascular disease annually. Annual U.S. health costs are estimated to be $280 billion, rising to $800 billion by 2030.