Now Reading: US FDA approves new radioactive agent for Alzheimer’s brain scans
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US FDA approves new radioactive agent for Alzheimer’s brain scans
US FDA approves new radioactive agent for Alzheimer’s brain scans
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved Tauklarify, a radioactive agent from Lantheus Holdings, for use in PET scans to help assess patients for Alzheimer's disease. The agent makes abnormal deposits…
The Story in Brief
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved Tauklarify, a radioactive agent from Lantheus Holdings, for use in PET scans to help assess patients for Alzheimer's disease. The agent makes abnormal deposits of tau proteins visible in brain images of adults with cognitive impairment.
The approval was supported by two studies in which independent readers assessed Tauklarify PET scans from over 500 participants. More than 7 million people in the US have Alzheimer's, a number that could exceed 13 million by 2050, Lantheus said. The tau-imaging market is dominated by Eli Lilly's Tauvid, approved in 2020.
The Indian Opinion
The approval of yet another diagnostic tool, six years after the last one, risks creating the impression that medicine is winning against Alzheimer's. The more uncomfortable fact is that no approved treatment yet targets tau, the very protein this new agent makes visible. Amyloid imaging, by contrast, has been around longer but has not transformed patient outcomes. The real test will come when tau-targeting drugs reach trials, or when sales of Tauklarify top the $50 million a year analysts forecast. Until then, better pictures do not mean better cures.
Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
