Hall of Fame Health partnership set to advance study of neurodegeneration via new PET imaging agent
Radiopharmaceutical company CereMark Pharma is partnering with Hall of Fame Health to conduct research on improving outcomes in soldiers and athletes with neurodegenerative conditions, the companies announced Wednesday.
CereMark Pharma specializes in developing PET imaging agents targeted at neurogenerative diseases. The company’s latest radiopharmaceutical, F-18 Flornaptitril, has shown promise for targeting proteins common to the development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
The imaging agent is set to enter Phase 3 of an investigational trial analyzing its effectiveness in identifying neural changes in patients presenting with early symptoms of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The hope is that the imaging agent will help researchers better understand the trajectory of MCI and whether it could help them predict who might go on to develop serious neurodegenerative conditions in the future.
Both the military and football communities have been outspoken in their efforts to promote further research on CTE. With this new partnership, Hall of Fame Health—an organization that partners with health systems throughout the U.S. to provide healthcare resources and services to former football players, military veterans and their families—is hoping to help bring greater awareness and clinical understanding of how physical trauma can manifest into neurodegenerative issues in the long-term.
“The more we know about how trauma is impacting a person’s brain, the more we can do to protect against the onset of neurodegeneration,” Hall of Fame Health Vice President Mike Lamb said in a news release. “And that’s why we are so pleased to support CereMark Pharma’s effort, which attempts to bring greater visibility into the development and progression of chronic traumatic encephalopathy and other diseases associated with cognitive impairment.”
“Partnering with Hall of Fame Health represents a pivotal step forward in our mission to provide patients, their families and the healthcare community with precise and actionable insights into cognitive health, including Alzheimer’s disease and chronic traumatic encephalopathy,” said CereMark Pharma Founder and CEO Dr. Henry “Hank” Chilton. “This relationship will not only help us in our work to further study F-18 Flornaptitril within the professional sports and military communities, but it will also help us generate greater awareness about neurodegenerative diseases.”
To date, there are no approved radiopharmaceuticals that can predict how MCI will progress based on imaging findings. The Phase 3 trial investigating F-18 Flornaptitril is set to begin later this year.
In addition to her background in journalism, Hannah also has patient-facing experience in clinical settings, having spent more than 12 years working as a registered rad tech. She joined Innovate Healthcare in 2021 and has since put her unique expertise to use in her editorial role with Health Imaging.