Invicro UK (formerly Imanova) is pleased to announce that the scanning has been completed on the first participants in the MIND MAPS programme. MIND MAPS is a multi-arm pre-competitive programme led by Invicro UK and drawing together both academic and commercial partners with the aim of characterizing imaging markers of progressive neurodegeneration.
MIND MAPS will seek to quantify molecular targets associated with mitochondrial and synaptic dysfunction using three PET ligands ( [11C]UCB-J, [11C]SA4503 and [18F]BCPP-EF targeting the SV2A glycoprotein, the sigma 1 receptor and the mitochondrial complex 1, respectively).
Ilan Rabiner, Invicro UK’s CMO, said “MIND MAPS represents an important pre-competitive initiative to deliver the first robust molecular characterization of the progression of neurodegeneration. Our hope is to deliver improved disease understanding with a view to facilitate the development of disease modifying drugs targeting these disorders”.
This program will compare the density of these molecular targets in the healthy human brain across a wide range of ages (20-85 years) and in patients with a variety of neurodegenerative diseases (such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and fronto-temporal dementia).
MIND MAPS will complete the first phase by the end of 2018 with the aim of validating imaging biomarkers for use in future Phase II proof-of-concept studies.