Eli Lilly and wholly owned subsidiary Avid Radiopharmaceuticals said that the Amyvid (florbetapir F-18 injection) PET imaging agent for Alzheimer's disease is now available in markets surrounding 16 manufacturing sites in the U.S.
The sites are located in Atlanta; Charlotte, NC; Chicago; Colton, CA; Columbus, OH; Dallas; Fort Lauderdale, FL; Hartford, CT; Houston; Jacksonville, FL; North Wales, PA; Orlando, FL; Palo Alto, CA; Phoenix; Seattle; and St. Louis. The distribution geography is limited because Amyvid loses more than half of its radioactivity every two hours, and the agent must be distributed directly to imaging centers from the specialized radiopharmacies where it's produced, the firms said.
In a separate announcement, Cardinal Health said it will manufacture and distribute Amyvid at seven U.S. sites beginning in June, with a potential expansion to 12 locations by the end of 2012.
In related news, Lilly is launching its reader training program. In addition to the online training program currently available at AmyvidTraining.com, Lilly and Avid have collaborated with the American College of Radiology to present a live, in-person training program on June 11 in Miami. The programs were developed to train radiologists and nuclear medicine physicians to interpret Amyvid scans; without training, errors could occur in the estimation of plaque density, the companies said.
