daniel skovronsky headquarters philadelphia pennsylvania united states parent eli lilly and company website http www.avidrp.com avid radiopharmaceuticals is an american company founded by dr. daniel skovronsky and based at the university city science center research campus in philadelphia pennsylvania . the company has developed a radioactive tracer called florbetapir 18f . florbetapir can be used to detect beta amyloid plaques in patients with memory problems using positron emission tomography pet scans making the company the first to bring to market an fda approved method that can directly detect this hallmark pathology of alzheimer s disease . venture investors include alta partners osage university partners and safeguard scientifics . 1 eli lilly and company announced on november 8 2010 that they would acquire avid for 800 million with 300 million paid out up front and the balance paid later on . 2 contents 1 detection of alzheimer s disease 1.1 validation by autopsy 2 other radiopharmaceuticals 3 see also 4 references 5 external links detection of alzheimer s disease edit since the disease was first described by dr. alois alzheimer in 1906 the only certain way to determine if a person indeed had the disease was to perform an autopsy on the patient s brain to find distinctive spots on the brain that show the buildup of amyloid plaque . doctors must diagnose the disease in patients with memory loss and dementia based on symptoms and as many as 20 % of patients diagnosed with the disease are found after examination of the brain following death to not have had the condition . other diagnostic tools such as analysis of cerebrospinal fluid magnetic resonance imaging scans looking for brain shrinkage and pet scans looking at how glucose was used in the brain had all been unreliable . 3 4 avid built on research done by drs. william klunk and chester mathis who had developed a substance they called pittsburgh compound b as a means of detecting amyloid plaque after analyzing 400 prospective compounds and developing 300 variations of the substance that they had discovered might work . in 2002 a study performed in sweden on alzheimer s patients was able to detect the plaque in pet brain scans . later studies on a control group member without the disease did not find plaque confirming the reliability of the compound in diagnosis . while the tool worked pittsburgh compound b relies on the use of carbon 11 a radioactive isotope with a half life of 20 minutes that requires the immediate use of the material prepared in a cyclotron . 3 chemical structure of florbetapir 18f with the fluorine 18 atom on top dr. skovronsky established avid radiopharmaceuticals in july 2005 with the goal of finding a dye that could be injected into the body would cross the blood brain barrier and attach itself to amyloid protein deposits in the brain . 5 avid raised 500 000 from bioadvance the biotechnology greenhouse of southeastern pennsylvania as seed funding toward the development of a biological marker . 6 once they found a candidate dye they attached the positron emitting fluorine 18 a radioactive isotope with a half life of nearly two hours that is used annually in two million pet scans and that can last for as long as a day when prepared in the morning by cyclotron . the dye had been developed and patented by the university of pennsylvania and was licensed by avid . 3 4 initial tests in 2007 on a patient at johns hopkins university hospital previously diagnosed with symptoms of alzheimer s disease detected plaque in a pet scan in areas where it was typically found in the brain . further tests found that the scans detected plaque in patients with alzheimer s didn t find it in those without the diagnosis and found intermediate amounts in patients with early signs of dementia . the tests found amyloid plaque in 20 % of its test patients over age 60 that had been in the normal range but had performed worse than a control group on tests of mental acuity . 3 validation by autopsy edit in order to confirm if the dye was accurate in detecting alzheimer s an advisory committee at the food and drug administration demanded that the team of avid bayer and general electric perform a study to test their method . avid established a study with a group of 35 hospice patients some that had been diagnosed with dementia and others that had no memory problems . the participants and their families agreed that they would undergo the pet scans and would have their brains autopsied after their death by pathologists . after the study was conducted avid received confirmation in may 2010 that the results of the test were successful in distinguishing between those with alzheimer s and those without the disease . 3 in results presented in july 2010 to an international conference on alzheimer s disease held in hawaii the company showed that for 34 out of the 35 hospice patients who had been scanned the initial scan results were confirmed when pathologists counted plaque under a microscope and when a computerized scan of the plaque was performed on material from the autopsied brain . 7 the findings will require review by the fda to confirm its reliability as a means of diagnosing the disease . if confirmed the technique would provide a means to reliably diagnose and monitor the progress of alzheimer s and would allow potential pharmaceutical treatments to be evaluated . 3 in a study published in january 2011 in the journal of the american medical association avid reported on the results of further studies conducted based on 152 test subjects who had agreed to receive the company s pet scans and to have their brains analyzed after death for definitive determination of the presence of amyloid plaques . of the patients included in the study 29 who died had autopsies performed on their brains and in all but one the brain autopsy results matched the diagnosis based on the pet scan taken before death . avid s technique is being used to test the efficacy of alzheimer s disease treatments being developed by other pharmaceutical firms as a means of determining the ability of the drugs to reduce the buildup of amyloid protein in the brains of living subjects . 8 on january 20 2011 an fda advisory committee unanimously recommended that avid s pet scan technique be approved for use . the advisory committee included a qualification requiring avid to develop clear guidelines establishing when the tests had spotted enough of the amyloid plaque in order to make a diagnosis of alzheimer s a task that avid ceo dr. daniel m. skovronsky stated could be resolved in several months . 9 needs update other radiopharmaceuticals edit avid is sponsoring clinical trials of 18f av 133 or 18f fluoropropyl dtbz to identify subjects with dopaminergic degeneration . 10 see also edit nuclear medicine list of pet radiotracers references edit http www.crunchbase.com company avid radiopharmaceuticals staff . lilly snags avid radiopharma forbes november 8 2010 . accessed november 8 2010 . a b c d e f kolata gina . promise seen for detection of alzheimer s the new york times june 23 2010 . accessed june 23 2010 . a b staff . avid radiopharmaceuticals initiates first phase ii trial of novel compound for imaging alzheimer s disease medical news today june 11 2008 . accessed june 23 2010 . staff . phila . start up developing a way to test for alzheimer s avid radiopharmaceuticals has raised 26 million in new venture financing . seeking a test for alzheimer s the philadelphia inquirer may 9 2007 . accessed june 23 2010 . staff . avid radiopharmaceuticals selected to receive seed funding from bioadvance ; funds to be used to develop molecular imaging tools for alzheimer s disease . business wire january 5 2005 . accessed june 23 2010 . kolata gina . new scan may spot alzheimer s the new york times july 12 2010 . accessed july 14 2010 . kolata gina . two tests could aid in risk assessment and early diagnosis of alzheimer s the new york times january 18 2011 . accessed january 19 2011 . kolata gina . f.d.a. sees promise in alzheimer s imaging drug the new york times january 20 2011 . accessed january 20 2011 . a trial of 18f av 133 positron emission tomography pet imaging to differentiate subjects with parkinson s disease pd from other movement disorders . clinical trials . u.s. national institutes of health . retrieved 20 july 2015 . external links edit company website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title avid radiopharmaceuticals & oldid 743597241 categories alzheimer s diseasecompanies established in 2005companies based in philadelphiaradiocontrast agentshidden categories wikipedia articles in need of updating from january 2011 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia 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