Bayer Schering Pharma AG, Germany, has completed its first global phase-II study analyzing the sensitivity and specificity of BAY 94-9172 (AV1/ZK) using positron emission tomography (PET) in patients with probable Alzheimer's disease compared to healthy volunteers. BAY 94-9172 binds to the beta amyloid protein in the brain, a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. The data is being analyzed and results will be presented at this year's International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease (ICAD) in Vienna.

Additional information on BAY 94-9172 and related research & development programmes will be presented at the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) meeting in Toronto being held from June 13 to 17, 2009.

"Beta amyloid has been proven to be a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease and it is accumulated in the brain very early in the course of the disease. Currently, the detection of this protein and, thus, the definitive diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease is only possible upon post-mortem," said Thomas Balzer, head of Global Clinical Development Therapeutic Area Diagnostic Imaging. "Thus an in-vivo imaging method would be clinically very useful as it could help in the differentiation between different dementia forms and either exclude Alzheimer's disease or make it very likely. There is a high unmet medical need for a better and earlier differentiation between the various dementia forms and especially of Alzheimer's disease. We hope that BAY 94-9172 can contribute to this for the patient's benefit because an earlier and more accurate diagnosis allows for optimized care and treatment options," he added.

Bayer Schering Pharma has extended its phase-II programme to further expand the number of imaged individuals and will also begin its pivotal phase-III global clinical development program of BAY 94-9172 in the second half of this year.

Interesting contributions at the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) meeting in Toronto on June 13 to 17, 2009 are listed below:

BAY 94-9172 is an inlicensed (18)F-labeled PET tracer and binds to beta amyloid, a protein that accumulates in the brain and that is considered being a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease.