Pharmacyclics Presents Data With Compounds to Target Vulnerable Plaque

Pharmacyclics has presented additional preclinical data supporting the use of novel compounds, based on the company's texaphyrin technology, to enhance visualization of vulnerable atherosclerotic plaque, which is widely believed to be a major cause of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

According to the American Heart Association, up to 80 percent of heart attacks are caused by vulnerable plaque, inflammatory lesions within the coronary artery wall that cause blood clots when they rupture.

The data was presented at the Society for Cardiac Magnetic Resonance's Eighth Annual Scientific Sessions, Jan. 21-23, in San Francisco. The preclinical studies, led by Albert Lardo, and colleagues from the Division of Cardiology and the Department of Radiology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, provided evidence that gadolinium-based texaphyrin compounds may be used as molecular imaging agents that selectively localize in atherosclerotic plaque and thereby enable noninvasive magnetic resonance imaging of rupture prone plaque.