GE HealthCare Concludes phase I clinical development programme for MRI

GE Healthcare, a top international company in medical technology, pharmaceutical diagnostics, and digital solutions, has finished the first stage of testing for a unique MRI contrast agent made from manganese. According to an abstract presented at the 2024 bi-annual Contrast Media Research symposium in Oslo, Norway, the findings from a first-in-human study on this manganese-based contrast agent support ongoing clinical development as it was well tolerated with no serious adverse events, dose-limiting toxicities, or clinically relevant findings reported.

Gadolinium-based MRI contrast agents are commonly employed to improve detection of abnormal structures or lesions and to assist in distinguishing between healthy and pathological tissue. This manganese-based contrast agent, which is macrocyclic, extracellular, and general-purpose, has similar relaxivity to gadolinium-based agents and is expected to have comparable diagnostic capabilities to current gadolinium-based products. Manganese, in contrast to gadolinium, is found naturally in the body and is effectively removed from it.

This manganese-based agent could serve as a practical substitute for gadolinium due to its beneficial image-enhancing characteristics, especially considering worries about gadolinium retention and the possible effects of gadolinium excreted by patients on the environment.

Dr Paul Evans, head of global R&D at GE HealthCare’s Pharmaceutical Diagnostics business segment, said, “These are encouraging phase I results for this manganese-based contrast agent and we look forward to completing the next steps in the clinical development process. This is part of our pipeline of products aiming to improve patient outcomes across care pathways."