Competitive development of new ultrasound, X-ray and MR contrast media

Though much has been achieved by pharmaceutical companies in terms of safe and effective contrast media, there is still a reservoir of medical needs in several imaging areas which have not been met as yet and which therefore represents a challenge for further advance. At present Bracco is not only evaluating and developing new contrast agents for MR, ultrasound and X-ray, but is also paying great attention to the cost effectiveness issue. A first step is to minimize the occurrence and severity of contrast media adverse reactions by clearly identifying which adverse reactions depend really on the type of contrast medium and therefore trying to reduce them by modifying the molecule characteristics. An example of this, can be the new nonionic compound for X-ray, iomeprol, which is characterised by the lowest osmolality and viscosity values among all available agents of the same class and that represents a further step toward the ideal contrast medium.