Multimodality imaging, specifically PET/CT and PET/MR, will be a significant driving force behind the preclinical animal research imaging market through 2022, according to a recent Decision Resources Group report.

Multimodality imaging can do what PET and SPECT alone cannot, which is scatter and attenuation correction. "Your image is of a lot better quality, you can do more involved research with it and you can do more quantitative studies," Felix Lam, a group analyst at Decision Resources Group, told DOTmed News.

Stricter scientific journal publication requirements are creating a greater demand for the higher-quality imaging that multimodality imaging provides. "When reviewers are looking over research that is submitted for publication they'll a lot of times be asking — why wasn't this done with a PET/CT instead of just a PET," said Lam.
A few technical hurdles are still standing in the way of the development of PET/MR, so for now, most research facilities are using PET and MR separately.

Some of the components used to create a PET system, including the PET ring, interfere with the magnet inside of an MR system. But manufacturers are working on that problem right now and soon there should be a solution, said Lam.

Last December, the National Institute of Health made sequester cuts that hurt funding for preclinical research, which in turn hurt the sales for the imaging systems. However, the funding is expected to gradually improve through 2022, according to the report.

"There is more and more of that emphasis on getting a lot of evidence for evidence-based medicine, and preclinical research is a big part of that," said Lam. "There is that drive coming from those corners to get better quality preclinical research."

In order to help research facilities get funding, the preclinical vendors have employed researchers and grant writers to support the grant process.

Even though the preclinical and clinical imaging technologies are similar, not many companies manufacture both types of systems since the clinical technologies involve additional costly regulatory requirements. Because of that, many of the smaller preclinical imaging system vendors are only involved in the preclinical market.

GE Healthcare left the preclinical market several years ago and Siemens Healthcare has announced to their users that they plan to do the same, said Lam. He doesn't know for sure why but he said that it could be because the focus is shifting more towards the clinical side.

"Preclinical market represents a much smaller slice of the total imaging market," he added.

A big portion of the market is still using GE and Siemens products but Lam said that the research facilities will start to go to new companies to help with servicing and support and also when they need to replace their systems.

"In the coming years they will be looking to replace systems and there will be a lot of shopping around," said Lam. "It's an opportunity for new companies."

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