GMP Synthesis and Binding Studies of a Molecular Probe to Glycosaminoglycans

Abstract Currently, there are no molecular probes that are specifically designed for quantitative imaging of articular cartilage health. In osteoarthritis (OA), the articular cartilage becomes degraded with loss of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) from the cartilage matrix serving as an early biomarker of the disease process. As such, there are clinical opportunities to mitigate cartilage damage in patients if OA is identified in its earliest stages. Ionic Pharmaceuticals is developing a novel cationic CT contrastagent for targeted quantitative imaging of changes in GAG content and mechanical properties of articular cartilage. Recent data demonstrates that the cationic contrast agent (CA4+) is more sensitive at imaging ex vivo and in vivo articular cartilage thancurrently available commercial anionic contrast agents. This superior performance of the cationic contrast agent is attributed to the electrostatic attraction between the cationic contrast agent and the negatively-charged GAGs present in articular cartila