KNOXVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Meilleur Technologies, Inc. today announced a research collaboration agreement with the Young Blood Institute (YBI) on the use of Meilleur’s [F-18]NAV-4694, an investigational imaging agent, in Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans to assess the status of amyloid plaque in the brain. Amyloid plaques are a hallmark of several neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s Disease (AD).
The collaboration is focused on using [F-18]NAV-4694 as an imaging biomarker in the YBI AmβARI (Amyloid βeta Assessment & Removal Intervention) study. The Young Blood Institute will utilize Meilleur’s [F-18]NAV-4694 tracer to aid YBI’s study of early detection and clearance of Amyloid βeta to prevent Alzheimer’s disease using Therapeutic Plasma Exchange. Colin Masters, MD, Professor of Dementia Research at the Florey Institute and the University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia, will lead the study as YBI Principal Investigator.
According to Dr. Masters, “There are multiple tracers for PET scanning available at the moment, and I insisted that we get the scientifically preferred tracer for this clinical study so that the trials we’re planning will provide the strongest clinical evidence of how significantly plasma exchange shifts the PET signal. ref”
Mark Urdahl, President & CEO of the Young Blood Institute, added, “While we plan to use the latest mass spec Aβ blood tests to screen subjects for potential Amyloid βeta accumulations in the brain, PET scanning remains the primary modality for confirmation of diagnosis. And NAV4694 provides the highest signal strength of any of the F-18 tracers ref.”
“Meilleur is focused on enabling acceleration of technologies that have the potential to advance the fight against debilitating neurodegenerative diseases,” said Rick Hiatt, Chief Exécutive Officier, Meilleur Technologies, Inc. “We believe NAV4694 has unique properties that will prove useful in developing current and future therapeutic agents in neurodegenerative disease and are excited to add YBI to our growing network of pharmaceutical and academic partners, leveraging our globally validated production sites. Our goal is to expand the availability of this novel investigational imaging agent to the broader scientific community.”
Ref. : Pascoal et al. 2020. PiB: Klunk et al., Alzheimer Dement, 2015. NAV: Rowe et al., J Nucl Med, 2016. FBB: Rowe et al., EJNMMI, 2017. FBP: Navitsky et al., Alzheimer Dement, 2018. FLT: Battle et al., EJNMMI Research, 2018.
About Meilleur Technologies, Inc.
Meilleur’s vision is to be the premier provider of imaging biomarkers for neurological pathologies, associated information technology and related tools to accelerate the development, approval, and adoption of effective therapies to treat neurodegenerative diseases. Meilleur’s late-stage biomarker, NAV-4694, provides Pharma and Academic researchers with a ‘best in class’ second generation ß-Amyloid imaging biomarker capable of detecting and validating Disease Modifying Therapies with the highest possible precision and accuracy for determining the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
About the Young Blood Institute
The Young Blood Institute was established as a non-profit clinical research organization to study new uses for Therapeutic Plasma Exchange therapies that have been used for decades to address autoimmune disorders. YBI’s study focus on age-associated disorders, as well as early pre-clinical findings and unique protocol developments for cognitively normal subjects, have led to an expansion into secondary prevention studies and strategies around dementia and dementia of the Alzheimer’s type, in particular.
