Avid development compound AV-45 binds to Amyloid Plaques for imaging of Alzheimer's disease (AD)

• AD is defined by the accumulation of brain amyloid.
• AD may be caused by the accumulation of brain amyloid.
• Therapies targeted at brain amyloid are under development.
• Avid compounds bind tightly to amyloid plaques for the imaging of pathology associated with AD.

Avid's Alzheimer's disease program is based on the hypothesis that in vivo detection of amyloid plaques by positron emission computed tomography (PET) or single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging will be useful as biomarkers for monitoring and diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. In collaboration with Dr. Hank Kung at the University of Pennsylvania, we have developed novel radiolabeled compounds that specifically and sensitively bind β-amyloid (the chief constituent of amyloid plaques), and are testing these compounds as molecular imaging agents in preclinical and clinical trials.

¹⁸F-AV-45 PET imaging of amyloid plaque

Top: Elderly control
Bottom: Alzheimer's disease