WALTHAM, Mass., Nov. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The pharmaceutical industry has placed a large bet on molecular imaging. With applications throughout the entire drug lifecycle, molecular imaging technologies promise to help drug developers generate better leads, speed their optimization and prioritization, and help convince regulatory authorities of their safety and efficacy.
The most recent developments in the advancement of molecular imaging technology are the subject of a new CHA Advances report, Molecular Imaging Comes of Age: Applications and Impacts in Discovery, Clinical Trials, and Medical Practice. The report explains how molecular imaging has become a business covering the spectrum from basic cell biology, to drug discovery and disease monitoring. The forms in which it has been commercialized are also highly diverse, indicating both substantial growth opportunities for companies competing in this space, as well as new and improved methodologies for researchers.
Molecular imaging technologies have the potential to significantly impact healthcare over the next five years, from early research to the delivery of care. Reimbursement is a key factor for the acceptance of molecular imaging and other types of functional imaging as biomarkers with diagnostic and disease-monitoring applications. Richard Hargreaves, Ph.D., Executive Director, Imaging at Merck Research Laboratories and one of several experts interviewed for the CHA report, comments on whether healthcare providers will embrace molecular imaging in these roles, or hinder it.
He states, "This depends on how far providers are willing to think ahead. Incorporating MI into diagnosis and therapy monitoring may increase the upfront payments, but one thing MI has the potential to do beautifully is identify drug responders. So, if used appropriately, MI could improve therapy response rates, encourage compliance, and so lower overall healthcare costs, especially in chronic disease in the medium and long term. It also fits very well into the more conservative version of the personalized medicine concept: Give the right drug to the right patients in the right dose."
For more information about Molecular Imaging Comes of Age: Applications and Impacts in Discovery, Clinical Trials, and Medical Practice, please visit http://www.chadvisors.com/services/Molecular_Imaging/overview.aspx, or contact Cindy Ohlman at cohlman@chadvisors.com or 781-547-0202.
Cambridge Healthtech Advisors (CHA) Advances Life Sciences Reports are written by experts who collaborate with CHA to provide a series of reports that evaluate the salient trends in pharmaceutical technology, business, and therapy markets.
Cambridge Healthtech AdvisorsCONTACT: Cindy Ohlman of Cambridge Healthtech Advisors, +1-781-547-0202,cohlman@chadvisors.com
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