Dr. Mark J. Pykett, the CEO of Navidea Biopharmaceuticals (NAVB), Interviews with The Wall Street Transcript
67 WALL STREET, New York - August 16, 2013 - The Wall Street Transcript has just published its Medical Research, Diagnostic Substances and Life Science Tools Report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This special feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with public company CEOs and Equity Analysts. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.
Topics covered: Health Care Consolidation Activity - Cost Reduction and Improving Efficiencies - Cost Reduction Amid Reimbursement Uncertainty - Health Care Growth Sectors Identified
Companies include: Navidea Biopharmaceuticals (NAVB) and many more.
In the following excerpt from the Medical Research, Diagnostic Substances and Life Science Tools Report, the CEO of Navidea Biopharmaceuticals (NAVB) discusses company strategy and the outlook for this vital industry:
TWST: Let's turn to your Alzheimer's candidate, NAV4694. From what I understand, NAV4694 will be used to detect amyloid plaque pathology, critical in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. Give us a bit of a background, and then explain the significance of a recent comparison study between your imaging agent, NAV4694, and the Pittsburgh Compound B, long considered the gold standard of Alzheimer's imaging agents.
Dr. Pykett: Absolutely. That's a great question. You've obviously done some very recent research, because we had some very good events and developments for the company in just the last two weeks. Amyloid is the earliest appearing and most reliable biomarker in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, and there have been many years of efforts to be able to identify amyloid at earlier and earlier stages, when it's more important to be able to make the diagnosis and intervene with A.D., which is really one of just 60 or 70 different types of dementias that can affect a person. So as the disease emerges and patients begin to show signs of cognitive impairment, it's not clear whether that's due to Alzheimer's disease or potentially something like Parkinson's-based dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia or other dementias.
As you might guess, diagnosing Alzheimer's disease correctly can be quite challenging in clinical practice. There is a lot of overlap in the presentation of signs and clinical symptoms of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, and so clinical diagnosis is fraught with uncertainties and inaccuracies. NAV4694 is really a second-generation agent in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and the detection of amyloid with a number of best-in-class properties. Other agents developed to date, one of which is approved in U.S. and two of which are pending approval in the U.S., have had high background binding to something called white matter in the brain, and this obscures the signal from the amyloid. It reduces the signal-to-noise ratio and makes it hard to pick up amyloid levels when they're low from the background.
NAV4694 is a very specific agent for amyloid, and it has very low background binding to that white matter, so it ends up producing very high signal-to-noise ratios, very clean images and the ability to detect amyloid at lower and lower levels, and that may enable diagnosis earlier and earlier in the course of the disease as cognitive impairment begins to emerge and where that diagnostic uncertainty exists. We have been developing it now for about a year and a half since we licensed it from AstraZeneca, and we have also been working with key opinion leaders and collaborators and major research consortia around the world.
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