Molecular PET imaging in multicenter Alzheimer’s therapeutic trials: current trends and implementation strategies

Abstract

Current therapeutic approaches for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) have evolved to target specific molecular biological, metabolic and neuropathologic hallmarks of the disease. Since these approaches are hypothesized to be most effective at the earliest stages of the degenerative process, the ability to accurately detect and monitor progression of AD pathology and metabolic changes in vivo may accelerate the discovery and development of disease-modifying drugs. The use of molecular imaging biomarkers can not only enhance diagnostic accuracy and facilitate patient selection/stratification, but can also serve as key outcomes for clinical trials. In this review, we discuss emerging trends in the use of PET in AD drug development and provide a roadmap for harnessing its promise in multicenter clinical trials.

Keywords::

• Alzheimer’s disease
• amyloid-β
• multicenter trials
• PET

Financial & competing interests disclosure

J Seibyl and K Marek have equity interest in Molecular Neuroimaging, LLC. PM Doraiswamy has received research grants and advisory fees from several pharmaceutical and imaging companies, and owns stock in Sonexa and Clarimedix. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.