PET Immune Imaging in Drug Development, from Bench to Bedside Application, with Decision Making Capabilities

Presenter: Kevin Maresca, Ph.D. |Senior Director and Head of PET & Molecular Imaging, Pfizer

A sensitive and specific imaging biomarker to monitor immune activation and quantify pharmacodynamic responses would be useful for the development of immunomodulating treatments. In the expanding field of immuno-oncology (IO), there is a growing need for earlier and more accurate in vivo molecular markers that can measure immune responses to an increasing number of IO therapies. A tool of this nature would also have potential to guide clinical management of disease for approved interventions. PET imaging is a quantifiable and clinically translatable technique, most widely used in clinical oncology for detection of tumors and staging of disease. PET tracers contain positron-emitting radionuclides that can be incorporated into a variety of molecular targeting compounds (e.g., small molecules, peptides, antibodies, nanoparticles).

During this webinar, the presenter will discuss:

Immune imaging as a rapidly developing field
How immune imaging informs on both disease status / progression, as well as treatment monitoring, preclinically and clinically
How immune imaging can be a valuable decision-making tool in drug development

Dr. Kevin Maresca is a Senior Director at Pfizer in the digital medicine & translational imaging line within early clinical development and the Head of PET and Molecular Imaging Group which provides imaging services across all Pfizer therapeutic areas, with a broad scope that includes novel preclinical ideas to proof of concept and late phase clinical trials. The PET imaging group utilizes key collaborations for data generation using both routine and novel methodologies. Dr. Maresca is a multi-faceted PET imaging scientist with more than 20 years of pharmaceutical drug discovery and development experience in the area of targeted small molecules, peptides and biologic-based drug product candidates, with over 50 publications/presentations and 10 patents.

Dr. Maresca received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Syracuse University and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital. In 2013, he joined Pfizer from Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals where he worked for 14 years, having served as Director of Radiochemistry and Production. Overall, he has been involved with the advancement of over 15 novel radiolabeled compounds into clinical trials.

PET Immune Imaging in Drug Development, from Bench to Bedside Application, with Decision Making Capabilities

Register Below for On-Demand Access:

KEVIN MARESCA, PH.D.

Senior Director and Head of PET & Molecular Imaging, Pfizer