TGen, medical-imaging firm speed drug development

TGen Drug Development (TD2) and Imaging Endpoints have teamed to enable the rapid development of anti-cancer drugs and deliver them faster to patients in need.

"The highest quality medical imaging provided by Imaging Endpoints is one more weapon in TD2's arsenal," said Dr. Stephen Gately, president of TD2, which assists drug developers in navigating the regulatory maze involved in the successful completion of clinical trials and bringing new therapeutics to market.

"Our relationship is meant to help combine the best available technologies."

Imaging Endpoints will assist TD2 in the design and implementation of medical imaging analyses. Imaging Endpoints' expertise in anatomic and functional imaging will allow drug developers to best incorporate imaging into their clinical trials: probing molecular drug targets, assessing biologic responses and evaluating drug effectiveness.

"We hope that, through our new relationship with TD2, we will be able to assist oncology drug developers to maximize their return on investment in medical imaging during the course of their early-phase clinical trials," said Ron Korn, medical director of Imaging Endpoints.

"Significant resources and time can be saved through wise and appropriate implementation of medical imaging."

The rapid completion of often time-consuming and costly clinical trials is needed to speed new treatments to the patients who need them, Gately said.

Scottsdale Mayor Jim Lane hailed the announcement by TD2 and Imaging Endpoints.

"The partnership announced between TD2 and Imaging Endpoints represents the merging of talents between two premier Scottsdale companies, and helps cement TD2 as a cornerstone of Scottsdale's growing biomedical industry."

Imaging holds the potential to predict outcomes, shorten the time needed to evaluate if a drug is hitting its target, and do so with relatively low risk to patients.

By using specific imaging techniques, researchers can assess if new drug compounds are effective in such areas as anti-proliferation, metabolism and hypoxia.

– Steve Yozwiak, senior science writer for the Translational Genomics Research Institute