FDA: Approval of Alzheimer's Neuroimaging Diagnostic Drug, Vizamyl (flutemetamol F 18 injection)

From the FDA on the 25th of October, quoting the press release: FDA approves second brain imaging drug to help evaluate patients for Alzheimer’s disease, dementia The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Vizamyl (flutemetamol F 18 injection), a radioactive diagnostic drug for use with positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of the brain in adults being evaluated for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and dementia. Dementia is associated with diminishing brain functions such as memory, judgment, language and complex motor skills. The dementia caused by AD is associated with the accumulation in the brain of an abnormal protein called beta amyloid and damage or death of brain cells. However, beta amyloid can also be found in the brain of patients with other dementias and in elderly people without neurologic disease. Vizamyl works by attaching to beta amyloid and producing a PET image of the brain that is used to evaluate the presence of beta amyloid. A negative Vizamyl scan means that there is little or no beta amyloid accumulation in the brain and the cause of the dementia is probably not due to AD. A positive scan means that there is probably a moderate or greater amount of amyloid in the brain, but it does not establish a diagnosis of AD or other dementia. Vizamyl does not replace other diagnostic tests used in the evaluation of AD and dementia. “Many Americans are evaluated every year to determine the cause of diminishing neurologic functions, such as memory and jud...
Source: BrainBlog - Category: Neurologists Source Type: blogs