Our Vision is to be the premier provider of
information and technology to researchers and
clinicians in order to improve brain health

OUR MISSION
“To provide broad access to biomarkers of neurological pathologies, essential enabling tools and information technology to accelerate the development and approval of effective therapies to treat Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases”
LANTHEUS CERVEAU
Lantheus Cerveau’s core asset is MK-6240: A promising next generation Tau PET Imaging Biomarker
LEARN MORE

MK-6240 PET image from a 50yo male with cognitive impairment
Courtesy of Prof. Pedro Rosa-Neto; McGill Univ.

Courtesy of V. Villemagne and C. Rowe
ABOUT US
At Lantheus Cerveau, we are revolutionizing the use of molecular imaging as one of our tools to accelerate the development of effective therapies to treat AD and other cognitive impairments.
This graphic shows MK-6240 images in a healthy control (HC) and an Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) patient. Note the essential absence of uptake in the HC images and the high contrast of up to 7 in Standard Uptake Value Ratio (SUVR) in the AD patient images.
OUR FOCUS
Enabling Acceleration of
Disease Modifier Research
We will devote our resources to enabling therapeutic disease modifier research by rallying support/validation from Pharma and Key Academic Opinion Leaders worldwide and by sharing non-competitive data among our Users Group, our Pharma and Academic partners.
KEY COMPETENCIES:
- Partnership network development and maintenance: Pharma, Academia, and Regional Distributors
- Seamless Technology Transfer to establish an extensive worldwide production network of impeccable quality to support Users Group clinical trials
- Robust Quality, Regulatory Affairs, and Data Management
TECHNOLOGIES
MK-6240 and Lantheus Cerveau’s Current & Future Distribution Networks
Lantheus Cerveau has an exclusive worldwide license from Merck for MK-6240, a leading best-in-class second-generation Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging biomarker for detection of Tau protein, in the form of Neurofibrillary Tangles in the living brain. MK-6240 imaging provides high resolution by virtue of its use of advanced PET imaging and its high sensitivity for Tau. This sensitivity is manifest in very high signal-to-noise images, and is complemented by negligible non-specific and low off-target binding to non-Tau pathologies in the brain. Based on these differentiating characteristics, it has been used extensively in human clinical studies by Pharma and leading Academic centers.
Lantheus Cerveau has established a worldwide network of distribution sites which can produce MK-6240 under stringent quality standards, making this leading Tau PET imaging biomarker suitable for use in scientifically and regulatorily demanding Pharma and Academic clinical trials.
Production Sites: Outside United States

Production Sites: United States

LANTHEUS CERVEAU AND ENIGMA BIOMEDICAL GROUP (EBG)
MK-6240 Image Data Management
Revealing Insights
Evaluating Tau, using MK-6240, and other neurodegenerative pathologies to enhance decision making for AD drug development and ultimately clinical practice

PARTNERS
PHARMA PARTNERS
BUSINESS PARTNERS
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NEWS

Tau Imaging with 18F-MK6240 across the Alzheimer’s Disease spectrum

Patterns of tau pathology identified with 18 F-MK-6240 PET imaging

New PET imaging tracer helps spot signs of Alzheimer’s disease years before symptoms appear

Case Report: 18F-MK6240 Tau Positron Emission Tomography Pattern Resembling Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in a Retired Australian Rules Football Player

Characterization of MK6240, a tau PET tracer, in autopsy brain tissue from Alzheimer’s disease cases

Timing is everything: tau imaging across stages of Alzheimer’s disease

Pascoal TA, Therriault J, et al. 18F-MK-6240 PET for early and late detection of neurofibrillary tangles. Brain. 2020; awaa180.

Betthauser TJ, Koscik RL, Jonaitis EM, et al. Amyloid and tau imaging biomarkers explain cognitive decline from late middle-age. Brain. 2020; 143(1):320-335. Doi: 10.1093/brain/awz378.

Koscik RL, Betthauser TJ, Jonaitis EM, et al. Amyloid duration is associated with preclinical cognitive decline and tau PET. Alzheimers Dement (Amst). 2020;12(1):e12007. Doi: 10.1002/dad2.12007.

Therriault J, Benedet AL, Pascoal TA, et al. Association of apolipoprotein E ε4 with medial temporal tau independent of amyloid-β. JAMA Neurol. 2020; 77(4):470-479. Doi: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2019.4421.

Koole M, Lohith TG, Valentine JL, et al. Preclinical safety evaluation and human dosimetry of [18F]MK-6240, a novel PET tracer for imaging neurofibrillary tangles. Mol Imaging Biol. 2020; 22(1):173-180. Doi: 10.1007/s11307-019-01367-w.

Laffon E, Buj S, de Clermont H, Marthan R. Fitting of late dynamic [18F]MK6240 PET scans for in vivo tau quantification. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2020; 47(1):7-8. Doi: 10.1007/s00259-019-04542-x.

Luchsinger JA, Palta P, Rippon B, et al. Sex differences in in vivo Alzheimer’s disease neuropathy in late middle-aged Hispanics. J Alzheimers Dis. 2020; 74(4):1243-1252. Doi: 10.3233/JAD-191183.

Lussier FZ, Pascoal TA, Chamoun M, et al. Mild behavioral impairment is associated with β -amyloid but not tau or neurodegeneration in cognitively intact elderly individuals. Alzheimers Dement. 2020; 16(1):192-199. Doi: 10.1002/alz.12007.

McCluskey SP, Plisson C, Rabiner EA, Howes O. Advances in CNS PET: The state-of-the-art for new imaging targets for pathophysiology and drug development. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2020; 47(2):451-489. Doi: 10.1007/s00259-019-04488-0.

Therriault J, Benedet AL, Pascoal TA, et al. APOEε4 potentiates the relationship between amyloid-β and tau pathologies. Mol Psychiatry. 2020; [Epub ahead of print]. Doi: 10.101038/s41380-020-0688-6.

Zou J, Tao S, Johnson A, et al. Microglial activation, but not tau pathology, is independently associated with amyloid positivity and memory impairment. Neurobiol Aging. 2020; 85:11-21. Doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2019.09.019.

Aguero C, Dhaynaut M, Normandin MD, et al. Autoradiography validation of novel tau PET tracer [F-18]-MK-6240 on human postmortem brain tissue. Acta Neuropathol Commun. 2019; 7(1):37. Doi: 10.1186/s40478-019-0686-6.

Devanand DP, Andrews H, Kreisl WC, et al. Antiviral therapy: Valacyclovir Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease (VALAD) Trial: Protocol for a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, treatment trial. BMJ Open. 2020; 10(2):e032112. Doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-032112.

Murugan NA, Chiotis K, Rodriguez-Vieitez E, Lemoine L, Agren H, Nordberg A. Cross-interaction of tau PET tracers with monoamine oxidase B: Evidence from in silico modelling and in vivo imaging. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2019; 46(6):1369-1382. Doi: 10.1007/s00259-019-04305-8.

Leuzy A, Chiotis K, Lemoine L, et al. Tau PET imaging in neurodegenerative tauopathies – still a challenge. Mol Psychiatry. 2019; 24(8):1112-1134. Doi: 10.1038/s41380-018-0342-8.

Lohith TG, Bennacef I, Vandenberghe R, et al. Brain imaging of Alzheimer dementia patients and elderly controls with 18F-MK-6240, a PET tracer targeting neurofibrillary tangle pathology. J Nucl Med. 2019; 60(1):107-114. Doi: 10.2967/jnumed.118.208215.

Betthauser TJ, Cody KA, Zammit MD, et al. In vivo characterization and quantification of neurofibrillary tau PET radioligand MK-6240 in humans from Alzheimer’s disease dementia to young controls. J Nucl Med. 2019; 60(1):93-99. Doi: 10.2967/jnumed.118.209650.

Guehl NJ, Wooten DW, Yokell DL, et al. Evaluation of pharmacokinetic modeling strategies for in-vivo quantification of tau with the radiotracer [18F]MK6240 in human subjects. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2019; 46(10):2099-2111. Doi: 10.1007/s00259-019-04419-z.

Hopewell R, Ross K, Kostikov A, et al. A simplified radiosynthesis of [18F]MK-6240 for tau PET imaging. J Labelled Comp Radiopharm. 2019; 62(2):109-114. Doi: 10.1002/jlcr.3695.

Salinas C, Lohith TG, Purohit A, et al. Test-retest characteristic of [18F]MK-6240 quantitative outcomes in cognitively normal adults and subjects with Alzheimer’s disease. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2019; [Epub ahead of print]. Doi: 10.1177/0271678X19887781.

Tago T, Toyohara J, Harada R, et al. Characterization of the binding of tau imaging ligands to melanin-containing cells: Putative off-target-binding site. Ann Nucl Med. 2019; 33(6):375-382. Doi: 10.1007/s12149-019-01344-x.

Murugan NA, Nordberg A, Agren H. Different positron emission tomography tau tracers bind to multiple binding sites on the tau fibril: Insight from computational modeling. ACS Chem Neurosci. 2018; 9(7):1757-1767. Doi: 10.1021/acschemneuro.8b00093.

Okamura N, Harada R, Ishiki A, et al. The development and validation of tau PET tracers: Current status and future directions. Clin Transl Imaging. 2018; 6(4):305-316. Doi: 10.1007/s40336-018-0290-y.

Pascoal TA, Shin M, Kang MS, et al. In vivo quantification of neurofibrillary tangles with [18F]MK-6240. Alzheimers Res Ther. 2018; 10(1):1-14. Doi: 10.1186/s13195-018-0402-y.

Collier TL, Yokell DL, Livni E, et al. cGMP production of the radiopharmaceutical [18F]MK-6240 for PET imaging of human neurofibrillary tangles. J Labelled Comp Radiopharm. 2017; 60(5):263-269. Doi: 10.1002/jlcr.3496.

Hostetler ED, Walji AM, Zeng Z, et al. Preclinical characterization of 18F-MK-6240, a promising PET tracer for in vivo quantification of human neurofibrillary tangles. J Nucl Med. 2016; 57(10):1599-1606.

Walji AM, Hostetler ED, Selnick H, et al. Discovery of 6-(fluoro-(18)F)-3-(1H-pyrrolo[2,3-c]pyridin-1-yl)isoquinolin-5-amine ([(18)F]-MK-6240): A positron emission tomography (PET) imaging agent for quantification of neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). J Med Chem. 2016; 59(10):4778-89. Doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.6b00166.