Siemens Healthcare is wasting no time in taking advantage of its existing partnership with Eli Lilly and its Amyvid (florbetapir F-18 injection) PET imaging agent.
Siemens has introduced its new syngo.PET amyloid plaque quantification software less than a week after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared Amyvid (florbetapir F-18 injection) to view beta amyloid plaques in the brains of patients with cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease evaluation. The syngo.PET software currently is pending FDA clearance.
Siemens will feature syngo.PET with its Biograph mCT PET/CT scanner to advance Siemens' manufacturing and distribution of Amyvid through its PETNet Solutions unit. The company plans to begin to supply Amyvid to imaging centers in limited U.S. markets beginning in June.
A negative Amyvid scan indicates that sparse-to-no amyloid plaques are present, a finding that is inconsistent with a neuropathological diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and reduces the likelihood that a patient's cognitive impairment is due to Alzheimer's disease.
A positive Amyvid scan indicates moderate-to-frequent amyloid plaques are present. This amount of amyloid plaque in patients with Alzheimer's disease also may be present in patients with other types of neurologic conditions, and in older people with normal cognition.
Eli Lilly is providing a training program to ensure accurate reading of Amyvid results.
