Amersham targets Alzheimer's disease

British pharmaceutical and life sciences company Amersham has obtained an exclusive license from the University of Pittsburgh to a class of molecules that target amyloid plaque in the brain, the cause of Alzheimer's disease. Amersham will attempt to develop PET agents for diagnosing and monitoring the progress of the disease. Such agents could accelerate the development of a wide range of therapeutics for Alzheimer's by allowing doctors to definitively measure the effectiveness of a potential therapy, according to the company.