Regional Expertise, Global Capabilities: A Smarter Approach to Preclinical Imaging

When every week counts, where your preclinical imaging partner operates can directly impact your program.

Biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies are under constant pressure to move promising therapies through preclinical development as efficiently as possible. Preclinical imaging studies often sit on the critical path for candidate selection, biodistribution, dosimetry, efficacy assessment, and IND-enabling packages, making the choice of imaging partner an important strategic decision.

While technical capabilities are essential, an often-overlooked consideration is how an organization’s scientific operations are structured. The ideal preclinical imaging partner combines regional scientific expertise with the resources, consistency, and scalability of a global organization, allowing sponsors to collaborate efficiently while maintaining access to world-class capabilities.

Looking Beyond Geographic Presence?

As sponsors evaluate imaging partners, it’s important to understand how different organizations structure their scientific operations. While some providers centralize laboratory activities within a single region, others maintain dedicated scientific teams and laboratory infrastructure closer to the sponsors they support.

Neither approach is inherently better for every program. However, for studies that require close collaboration, evolving protocols, or rapid decision-making, regional scientific operations can offer meaningful advantages in communication, flexibility, and execution.

When evaluating a preclinical imaging partner, consider where these capabilities are actually located:

• Scientific study design
• Imaging laboratories
• Radiochemistry capabilities
• Data analysis and reporting
• Project management
• Decision makers and technical experts

Understanding where these functions reside can provide valuable insight into how your project will be managed from study design through final reporting.

Five Benefits of Regional Scientific Expertise

1. Faster Collaboration with Scientific Experts

Drug development rarely follows a perfectly planned schedule.

Protocols evolve, unexpected questions arise, and new findings often require adjustments throughout a study. Having direct access to scientific teams operating within your region makes collaboration simpler and more responsive.

Benefits include:

• Easier scheduling of meetings
• Faster answers to technical questions
• More efficient decision-making
• Reduced communication delays

Rather than coordinating across large time differences, sponsors have direct access to the experts conducting their studies.

2. More Efficient Study Execution

Study timelines are influenced by much more than laboratory capacity. Clear communication and coordinated execution often determine how efficiently projects move forward.

When project managers, imaging scientists, and radiochemistry teams work closely together within the same regional operation, study updates and protocol adjustments can often be implemented more efficiently.

This can streamline activities such as:

• Protocol revisions
• Scheduling changes
• Radiotracer production
• Data review
• Report generation

For programs working toward critical milestones, even small time savings can have significant downstream value.

3. Greater Scientific Continuity

One of the greatest advantages of integrated regional operations is continuity between the people designing the study and those executing it.

Rather than information passing between multiple teams, sponsors work directly with experienced imaging scientists who understand the biology, imaging endpoints, and translational objectives of the project.

This collaborative model supports:

• More thoughtful study design
• Better troubleshooting
• Consistent communication
• Stronger scientific partnership

4. Confidence Through Integrated Operations

When imaging, radiochemistry and scientific operations are performed within facilities owned and managed by the provider, sponsors gain greater visibility into quality systems and study execution.

Integrated operations can provide:

• Standardized workflows
• Consistent quality practices
• Direct oversight by experienced scientific leadership
• Faster issue resolution

Working with a single, accountable team helps simplify project management while supporting consistent study execution.

5. Global Capabilities Without Global Complexity

Choosing a partner with regional laboratories does not mean sacrificing global reach.

The strongest organizations combine local execution with international expertise, allowing studies to be performed where they make the most sense while maintaining consistent scientific standards.

This provides flexibility for multinational programs while preserving the responsiveness of regional scientific teams.

Questions to Ask When Evaluating a Preclinical Imaging Partner

Before selecting a preclinical imaging provider, consider asking:

• Where will my studies actually be performed?
• Are imaging and radiochemistry capabilities owned and operated by your organization?
• Who will I communicate with during my project?
• Are project managers and scientists located in my region?
• How quickly can protocol changes be implemented?
• Will I have direct access to the scientific experts performing my study?

The answers can provide valuable insight into how your project will be supported throughout its lifecycle.

The Perceptive Discovery Approach

At Perceptive Discovery, our scientific, imaging, radiochemistry, and project management teams operate from dedicated facilities in both the United States and the United Kingdom. This regional infrastructure enables sponsors across North America and Europe to collaborate directly with experienced experts in their own time zone while benefiting from standardized scientific practices and the resources of a global organization.

By integrating preclinical imaging, radiochemistry, biomarker expertise, and translational sciences within our own operations, we provide a seamless experience from study design through data delivery. The result is responsive scientific collaboration, efficient execution, and high-quality data that helps sponsors move programs forward with confidence.

Whether supporting early discovery, IND-enabling studies, or translational imaging strategies, our goal is the same: to provide the scientific partnership and operational excellence needed to accelerate better decision-making throughout drug development.

Learn More

If you’re evaluating imaging partners for an upcoming program, we’d welcome the opportunity to discuss your scientific objectives and explore how Perceptive Discovery can support your development strategy.

Contact our team to schedule a scientific consultation.