09:23 AM EST, 11/27/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Eli Lilly's ( LLY ) diagnostic agent flortaucipir, or Tauvid, has been approved by the UK's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency to test whether adults with memory problems have Alzheimer's disease, the regulator said Wednesday.

The diagnostic agent, combined with other tests, may allow doctors to find the cause for patients' memory issues by helping to determine whether they have abnormal forms of tau protein in their brains, the regulator said, adding that abnormal forms of the protein are present in the brains of people with Alzheimer's.

The agent is administered to patients via injection before getting an image from a brain scan, the agency said.