Avid Radiopharmaceuticals

Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Eli Lilly, developed the first radioactive diagnostic agent approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for imaging tau neurofibrillary tangles on positron emission tomography (PET) scans. The F-18 flortaucipir tracer, marketed under the name Tauvid, helps clinicians estimate the density and distribution of tau tangles in the brains of adults with cognitive impairment being evaluated for Alzheimer's disease.

Tauvid works by binding to tau proteins that form neurofibrillary tangles, which are a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease along with amyloid plaques. Previously, doctors could only diagnose Alzheimer's neuropathologically by identifying both plaques and tangles in the brain after death. With Tauvid, physicians can now visualize and assess tau pathology in living patients through PET imaging.

The FDA's approval of Tauvid in May 2020 was supported by two clinical studies evaluating the agent's safety and effectiveness. These studies demonstrated that readers interpreting Tauvid PET scans had a high probability of accurately detecting tau pathology and an average-to-high probability of correctly identifying patients without tau pathology.