Serac Healthcare – a clinical radiopharmaceutical company – has announced that an abstract on vital data from the initial cohort of patients in the ‘Detecting endometriosis expressed integrins using technetium-99m’ imaging (DETECT) study, has been accepted for presentation at the Society for Reproductive Investigation (SRI) annual meeting.
The event will take place from 12-16 March 2024 in Vancouver, Canada.
Dr Tatjana Gibbons, an investigator during the research will be present findings on Friday 15 March as part of the gynaecology session.
The study has been scrutinising whether it is possible to visualise endometriosis, including superficial peritoneal disease using 99mTc-maraciclatide and SPECT-CT imaging. 99mTc-maraciclatide is a radio-labelled tracer which binds with high affinity to the cell adhesion protein αvβ3 integrin and images angiogenesis.
The study is being led by Professor Christian Becker – Director of the Endometriosis CaRe Centre in Oxford – along with Professor Krina Zondervan, Head of Department at the Nuffield Department of Women’s and Reproductive Health at the University of Oxford.
In this first stage of the research, individuals were scanned to determine the most appropriate imaging window. Meanwhile, a second stage is now underway with participants who will be imaged at a single time point.
During the DETECT study, women with confirmed or suspected endometriosis, who are due to undergo laparoscopy – a key-hole surgical procedure used to assess the organs in the abdomen and pelvis – have been imaged with 99mTc-maraciclatide prior to laparoscopic surgery.
David Hail, Chief Executive Officer of Serac Healthcare, explained: “This is a potentially hugely exciting additional use for maraciclatide.”
He added: “There are significant unmet medical needs in the diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis. A definitive tool to diagnose and monitor endometriosis has the potential to significantly improve patient outcomes, reduce healthcare costs and could assist in the development of new therapies.”
Endometriosis is a highly prevalent inflammatory disease that affects one in 10 women of childbearing age – about 190 million women worldwide.
