The use of PET and knockout mice in the drug discovery process

Abstract

Although [15O]H(2)O, 2-[18F]fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (FDG) and other radioligands for low-density receptors and enzymes have been used in drug discovery and drug development, the impact on the pharmaceutical industry, to date, has been anecdotal. As new chemical entities are developed, radiotracers that aid in characterizing these drugs need to be developed rapidly to have an impact on the development process. The combined use of positron emission tomography (PET) and gene-manipulated animal models to validate radioligands quickly holds great promise for accelerating the discovery process.