Siemens’ PETNET subsidiary agrees to use Lilly tracer

Siemens’ positron emission tomography business subsidiary — PETNET Solutions — agreed to manufacture and distribute Eli Lilly‘s (NYSE:LLY) molecular imaging agent currently under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Florbetapir, a labeled tracer for imaging-amyloid aggregates in the human brain by positron emission tomography, is under regulatory review by the FDA. If approved, it could help identify plaque in the brain tied to Alzheimer’s disease.

Lilly received a complete response from the FDA in March seeking more data on the reader training program for the PET tracer and responded in the third quarter, a Lilly spokeswoman said. Lilly took on florbetapir in its $300 million acquisition of Avid Radiopharmaceuticals in December.

Britta Fuenfstueck, CEO of Molecular Imaging, Siemens Healthcare, said: “Optimized solutions, from tracer manufacturing to innovative scanner technologies of the Biograph product family of PET/CT and PET/MR products and related processing solutions, support an efficient diagnostic process.”