Boston Life Sciences Files for ADHD Screen
WASHINGTON, May 12, 2000 (Reuters) - A company that has developed a new
imaging agent for Parkinson's disease and attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) said on Friday it had asked the Food and
Drug Administration for permission to test it on people.
Boston Life Sciences, Inc. said it had filed an investigational new drug
(IND) application with the FDA to allow it to run clinical trials of
Fluoratec, its ``second generation'' brain imaging agent.
Fluoratec shows up irregularities in the way the brain uses dopamine, an
important neurotransmitter or message-carrying chemical.
It uses technetium, which emits gamma rays that nuclear medicine single
positron emission computer tomography (SPECT) cameras can detect. The
company's other imaging agent, Altropane, uses iodine.
Altropane is in clinical studies to test its efficacy in helping
diagnose Parkinson's and ADHD, but the company says Fluoratec may be
even better.
``The images obtained in primates appear to be at least as good as those
obtained with Altropane,'' it said in a statement.
``We hope to obtain our first human images in a Phase I/II study within
the next couple of months,'' Dr. Marc Lanser, chief scientific officer
of BLSI, said in a statement.
``If the human images are of comparable quality to those obtained with
Altropane, we will press forward with the full-scale clinical
development program for this exciting compound.''
ADHD affects as many as 5.5 million U.S. children. Parkinson's disease
is a chronic, progressive deterioration of certain brain cells that
affects one million Americans.
Copyright © 2000 Reuters Limited.
--
Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
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