David R. Elmaleh

Dr. David R. Elmaleh is a scientist, inventor and entrepreneur. He is an inventor of three drugs that are in use in man or in late stage clinical trials including: the radiopharmaceutical preparation of (2FDG) which has been used in over a million PET imaging procedures, Beta-methyl modified fatty acid (BMIPP) a commercially successful cardiac SPECT agent, and Altropane which has completed Phase III clinical trials. He is a co-author on over 120 publications and an inventor on dozens of issued and pending patents^[1] in a range of disciplines, including molecular imaging and pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Elmaleh is the Director of Contrast Agent Media at the Massachusetts General Hospital^[2] and an Associate Professor at the Harvard Medical School.^[3] His recent work includes advanced imaging compounds to improve the speed and effectiveness of cardiovascular disease diagnosis.^[4][5][6] Dr. Elmaleh is a recipient of numerous NIH and DOE awards, and has participated as a reviewer for the National Institute of Health (NIH). He is the Scientific Founder of Fluoropharma,^[7] Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals (formerly Biostream) and several other start-ups.^[8] He holds a BSc in Physics and Chemistry, and an MS and PhD in Chemistry from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

FDG-PET is an imaging agent that is widely used. It provides a readout for the rate of glucose metabolism which is usually abnormally high in areas of inflammation and in tumors and conversely is abnormally low due to ischemia or neurodegeneration. The concept of FDG-PET was developed by Alfred Wolf, Joanna Fowler and colleagues. However, that original method for FDG synthesis was not practically viable.

In 1982, a new and more efficient method of fluorine-18-FDG synthesis, which used an anhydrous fluoride salt, was developed by Dr. David Elmaleh and Shlomo Levi at MGH (Mass General Hospital). Fluorine-18 could be produced more easily in a cyclotron as a fluoride salt and was easier to handle than fluorine gas. With this new synthetic method, FDG could be produced in a three step process with over 20% yield, which was significantly better that the previous one which entailed five steps and a 10-12% yield. "This synthetic method was patented by Elmaleh and Levi. However, Wolf and Fowler filed for patent abandonment and the MGH derived no benefit.".^[9] Later Kurt Hamacher made a modification of Elmaleh and Levi’s method and that method is now used in commercial FDG production.

References

1. ^ http://www.google.com/patents?q=david+elmaleh&lr=&as_psra=1&sa=N&start=0
2. ^ http://www.partners.org/researchcores/imaging/PET_MGH.asp
3. ^ http://connects.catalyst.harvard.edu/PROFILES/ProfileDetails.aspx?From=SE&Person=DRE1
4. ^ http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Novel+X+rays+highlight+clogging+arteries-a020212400
5. ^ http://www.dicardiology.net/node/32588/
6. ^ http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-217657871.html
7. ^ www.fluoropharma.com
8. ^ http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=2263369&privcapId=9240598&previousCapId=9273028&previousTitle=MitoVec,%20Inc.
9. ^ http://www2.massgeneral.org/radiology/pdf/news/miller_janet_4_17_09.pdf

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