Some thoughts on Amyvid

by Philip F. Jacobus, CEO | April 11, 2012

I read with interest this story that Brendon Nafziger wrote about Amyvid, a PET imaging agent the FDA just approved for patients with suspected Alzheimer's disease.

My mother, Dorothy Jacobus, died from Alzheimer's after a long battle with the illness.

Alzheimer's is a disease that very few people understand and as the life expectancy of our population rises, more people will succumb to it.

Although there are many stages to Alzheimer's, the final stage, which is a vegetative state, is really horrible.

Amyvid is of course a diagnostic aid, not a cure, and even so there's no consensus on what its ultimate clinical utility will be. Nonetheless, I always find it encouraging whenever any progress is made to fight this disease.

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About Phil Jacobus

Phil Jacobus has been involved in health care since 1977, when he visited China to sell equipment. He has done business in 35 countries and still travels extensively. Phil is active in charity, helps rural clinics and always tries to help DOTmed users when he can.

Phil is a member of AHRA, HFMA, AAMI and the Cryogenic Society of America. He has contributed to a number of magazines and journals and has addressed trade groups.

Phil's proudest achievement is that he has been happily married to his wife Barbara since 1989, who helped him found DOTmed in 1998.


(132) (4) (42) Don Bogutski Phil: I too am encouraged by the FDA's approval of Amyvid April 12, 2012 12:47 As is typical for newly approved drugs, the initial use for Amyvid is limited and diagnostic. However as an approved pharmaceutical, Amyvid will be available for physicians to prescribe for off label purposes. It seems likely that in the not too distant future Amyvid will find a variety of use as a prognostic tool in addition to it's diagnostic role. New drugs are emerging in rapid succession, spurred by the mining of data compiled from the genome mapping project as well as the evolving area of nano-pharmaceuticals. Someday soon, I predict that you will blog about Amyvid, or an analog drug, being paired with one of these new drugs to temporarily suspend the progress of Alzheimer's, or at least significantly slow it's progression to personality assassination and death. Log inor Register to rate and post a comment
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