msGUIDE · Insight into Drug Distribution and Local Concentration using Multispectral Imaging of Fluorescent Drugs in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic relapsing inflammatory disorders of the gastrointestinal tract affecting 2.5 Mil. patients in Europe alone. The majority of newly diagnosed patients are in adolescence or early adulthood and in the midst of their family life, career, and social development. Though not life-threatening, the disease comes with significant morbidity and complex treatment strategies and is associated with a high social burden and medical costs. msGUIDE aims to revolutionize IBD treatment by offering high-performance insight into local drug distribution and concentrations that can lead personalized medicine in IBD patients and early drug development through identifying specific targeted cells of drugs, elucidating the individual phenotype and thereby patient stratification. This will be achieved by reinvigorating endoscopy to overcome major challenges for medical application. The goal of msGUIDE is to develop a highly sensitive novel imaging technology consisting of a Near-Infrared Fluorescence and Reflectance Multispectral Imaging (NIR-FRMI) unit integrated into a never before seen High-definition White Light Endoscope (HD-WLE). The aim is to quantify drug distribution and concentration and identify the individual drug target cells in the gut. With this groundbreaking system we offer an operatorindependent endoscopic method to establish the optimal dose and to monitor the treatment response in IBD patients in realtime. This will allow for an individual, precise and quantitative diagnosis leading to a more personalized, targeted and thus more effective treatment in IBD and common diseases in general.