PET and drug research and development

The use of PET to examine the behavioral, therapeutic and toxic properties of drugs and substances of abuse is emerging as a powerful new scientific t ool. PET provides a new perspective on drug research by virtue of its abili ty to directly assess both pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic events in hu mans and in animals. These parameters can be assessed directly in the human body both in healthy Volunteers and in patients. Moreover, the new generat ion of high-resolution, small animal cameras hold the promise of introducin g imaging in the early stages of drug development and make it possible to c arry out longitudinal studies in animals and to study genetically altered a nimals. This places PET in a unique position to contribute significantly to the process of drug development through understanding the molecular mechan isms underlying drug action while addressing some very practical questions such as determining effective drug doses for clinical trials for new drugs, determining the duration of drug action and examining potential drug inter actions.