# Manganese-based Contrast Agent for Cardiovascular MRI

> **NIH NIH R43** · REVEAL PHARMA · 2021 · $300,000

## Abstract

Project Summary. Ischemic heart disease is the leading cause of morbidity and death in the United States
representing 1 in 3 American deaths and globally (17 million deaths annually). Contrast enhanced computed
tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) play a key role in managing heart disease by enabling
non-invasive assessment of myocardial perfusion, infarction, and viability. Contrast enhanced scans are
increasingly relied upon for ischemic heart disease diagnosis and treatment planning, and for assessing
treatment efficacy. Thus, cardiac imaging is the fastest growing segment of the MRI market in Europe and
increasing in the United States with the recent randomized controlled MR-INFORM trial demonstrating
equivalency between invasive catherization and contrast enhanced MRI. Unfortunately, both iodinated CT
radiocontrast and gadolinium-based MRI contrast agents are contraindicated in patients suffering moderate to
severe renal impairment. Iodinated contrast media can cause acute and irreversible kidney injury in renally
impaired patients and gadolinium-based MRI contrast agents (GBCAs) are directly linked to nephrogenic
systemic fibrosis (NSF) in renally impaired patients. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) afflicts 16% of US adults and
is increasing due to the diabetes and obesity epidemics and the aging population. Cardiac and renal output are
inextricably linked - renal dysfunction is present in 33% of patients with heart failure complicating their diagnostic
workup and management despite the clear benefit of non-invasive cardiac MRI over invasive percutaneous
catherization. As a result, when imaging heart disease patients with CKD, clinicians are either faced with limited
radiologic information or placing the patient at higher risk for complications by using GBCA.
 There is a major unmet clinical need for contrast-enhanced cardiovascular imaging using safer alternatives to
gadolinium-based contrast agents. Reveal Pharmaceuticals is developing a gadolinium-free contrast agent
based on technology developed at Massachusetts General Hospital. Our lead compound RVP-001 is an stable
manganese chelate with relaxivity and pharmacokinetics similar to GBCAs resulting in equivalent imaging
properties. RVP-001 is rationally designed for partial hepatobiliary elimination, which provides a compensatory
elimination mechanism for renally impaired patients. Our ultimate goal is to develop RVP-001 as a contrast agent
for use in renally impaired subjects as well as the general patient population.
 In this SBIR application we will demonstrate the efficacy of RVP-001 for cardiac imaging in a porcine model of
myocardial infarction to demonstrate and validate RVP-001 equivalency to a commercially available GBCA. We
will first identify a formulation of RVP-001 best suited for bolus delivery, and then demonstrate that RVP-001 is
equivalent or better than the commercial GBCA Gd-DOTA for assessing myocardial perfusion and viability. The
proposed imaging will s...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10157538
- **Project number:** 1R43HL156713-01
- **Recipient organization:** REVEAL PHARMA
- **Principal Investigator:** Vera Hoffman
- **Activity code:** R43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $300,000
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-12-15 → 2022-12-14

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10157538

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10157538, Manganese-based Contrast Agent for Cardiovascular MRI (1R43HL156713-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-29 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10157538. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*