Dr. Elmaleh is an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School and the Director of Contrast Media Chemistry at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He is a renowned molecular imaging expert and inventor of numerous molecular imaging agents including three drugs that are in use in man or in late stage clinical trials, including the radiopharmaceutical preparation of (2FDG) which has been used in millions of PET imaging procedures. Dr. Elmaleh also recently received patent protection for the use of 18F-FDG PET for imaging atherosclerosis, for tracking inflammation within plaques, and for monitoring the response to drug therapy; a promising use that should be part of the future diagnostic armament. Dr. Elmaleh’s extensive research of the metabolic trapping of fatty acids and other imaging-designed drugs was a pivotal turning point in the development of molecular imaging. Influenced by the ingenious mathematical model developed by Dr. Louis Sokoloff for measuring brain glucose, Dr. Elmaleh, developed a parallel path for trapping fatty acid degradation via the beta-oxidation process, for which Professor Feodor Lynen received a Nobel Prize in 1964. Beta-methyl modified fatty acid, (BMIPP) is a commercially successful cardiac SPECT agent in Japan and Europe. He has also played a role in the development of Altropane, a Parkinson’s disease diagnostic agent (nominated as one of the 25 most valuable inventions of the brain decade by associated universities) that has completed Phase III clinical trials, several novel agents for early detection of dopamine and serotonin targeting drugs, and reversible acetyl choline esterase inhibitors. He also developed a new approach for molecular imaging with oligonucleotides and siRNA by facilitating the delivery to transformed cells using small molecular structures.
Dr. Elmaleh is a founder of several biotech companies including Molecular Insight (formerly Biostream) and Mersana (formerly NanoPharma) that recently closed a drug deals for over $700 million with big pharma. He also co-founded Puretech health that recently went public on The London Stock Exchange, at a valuation over $500 million.
Dr. Elmaleh holds a BS in Physics and Chemistry, and an MS and PhD in Organic Chemistry. Dr. Elmaleh is a recipient of numerous NIH and DOE grants. His recent work includes extensive research on imaging compounds, platforms to improve the speed and effectiveness of cardiovascular disease diagnosis, ischemia, infarction, and plaque formation which have enabled several drug technologies licensed from MGH to a new start-up. He is a co-author on over 130 publications and book chapters, an inventor of over 50 issued and pending patents in a range of disciplines, including molecular imaging and pharmaceuticals.