The FDA advisory panel has ruled against approving a new PET scan developed by Avid Radiopharmaceuticals for use in the market. The PET scan is able to detect a special radioactive marker known as florbetapir F 18, which would help doctors diagnose Alzheimer’s disease.
Although the FDA considers the test safe, it worries that user error would cause too many false positives, meaning the doctor would tell a patient he has Alzheimer’s when he does not really suffer from the disease. The FDA panel did allow the possibility for the test to be approved in the future, if proper training and labeling are implemented.
