GE Healthcare and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited have entered into an alliance agreement for research and development focusing on imaging modalities in the field of hepatic fibrosis, a key factor in  the diagnosis and treatment of liver diseases.

​According to the alliance agreement, GE Healthcare will provide Takeda with its diagnostic imaging technology used to generate a liver stiffness map as part of the research and development work Takeda is conducting on liver diseases. Through the alliance, the companies hope to develop therapeutic drugs as well as new diagnostic technologies for liver diseases.

Currently, the diagnosis of hepatic fibrosis is most commonly conducted by a liver biopsy, in which a needle is inserted through the skin into the liver, a sample of which is then removed for measurement. With MR elastography commercialized by GE Healthcare, in use in the United States since 2009 and in Japan since 2012, it has become possible to measure the relative stiffness of liver tissues in a non-invasive manner. It is expected that this kind of GE Healthcare diagnostic technology will contribute to Takeda’s efforts to develop medicines for liver disease.

Source: Takeda Pharmaceutical