In Vivo Imaging in the Preclinical Evaluation of Disease Progression, Treatment Efficacy, and Safety

Introduction The use of preclinical imaging is increasing as the power of these tools has been demonstrated through a variety of animal models that enable early drug screening and decision making. Anatomical, molecular, and functional imaging can provide valuable information to help understand the activity of compounds in development, supporting studies evaluating compound activity (mechanism of action, efficacy) as well as safety and toxicity. Combined with advances in analytical tools and the use of systems that are able to image not only small animals but larger species such as dogs and nonhuman primates, imaging is increasingly used in large molecule (antibodies, proteins) evaluation and to investigate abnormal findings in late stage toxicity studies.