MK-6240, licensed to Cerveau from Merck, is a next-generation imaging biomarker, intended to enhance assessment of the status of neurodegenerative disease, thereby enabling accelerated therapeutic development

BOSTON, MA, USA I June 16, 2017 I Cerveau Technologies, Inc. today announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration has cleared their IND for [18F]MK-6240, an investigational tau imaging agent. Cerveau plans to work with partners to study the use of this product in Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans for assessing the status and progression of neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) in the brain. NFTs made up of aggregated tau protein are a hallmark of several neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease.

Cerveau licensed MK-6240 on a world-wide basis from Merck, known as MSD outside the US and Canada, and is working with a growing set of pharmaceutical company collaborations using it to provide information about status and progression of Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Rick Hiatt, President of Cerveau Technologies said, “We are pleased to reach this important milestone in the development of our novel, next-generation agent for the detection and quantitation of NFT in patients. We believe that it validates the faith our Pharma partners have placed in us. Clinical studies will proceed to determine the ability of MK-6240 to stage disease and quantify the potential effects of therapeutic treatments for neurodegenerative disease, including Alzheimer’s Disease. We are excited to work with our current collaborators as well as other partners to develop this agent as a potential biomarker for staging patients, and monitoring their therapy throughout treatment.”

About Cerveau Technologies, Inc.

Cerveau Technologies, Inc. is a partnership between Enigma Biomedical Group, Inc. and Sinotau Pharmaceutical Group. Cerveau’s vision is to globally develop diagnostics and technology that positively impact patients with neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s disease.

SOURCE: Cerveau Technologies