GE Healthcare announces first patient dosed in phase-III clinical trial for new dopamine transporter imaging radiopharma

GE Healthcare recently announced the first patient dosed in the phase-III clinical trial for a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) radiopharma imaging agent which aims to assist in the evaluation of adult patients with suspected Parkinsonian syndromes, support research and improve patient care.

This multi-centre phase-III clinical trial of a PET radiopharma is underway in France. In addition to offering a potentially shorter patient workflow, the clinical trial is comparing PET for striatal dopamine transporter visualisation with DaTscan. PET technology offers higher spatial resolution than SPECT, which may result in a clearer image to aid visual interpretation and diagnosis. This PET radiopharma was originally developed by Zionexa, a French company specialising in innovative radiopharma, which was acquired by GE Healthcare’s pharma diagnostics business last year.

A next-stage clinical study for a SPECT dopamine transporter imaging agent will also be underway this year in the US. Licensed from Boston-based brain imaging specialist LikeMinds, it has the potential to reduce overall procedure time, to optimise imaging centre workflow and help improve patient comfort.

GE Healthcare has obtained exclusive global rights to the product.

Already a global leader with DaTscan ([123I]-ioflupane), used in Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) imaging across more than 40 countries worldwide, GE Healthcare is now planning to bolster its portfolio with two pipeline radiopharma, one for PET and one for SPECT.