Testing for Alzheimer's
.
Alzheimer's Donation
Donate Online Now
.
Amorfix has reached a technical milestone in the development of a blood test for Alzheimer'sCanadian biotech firm Amorfix has demonstrated that it's Epitope Protection technology is able to detect aggregated beta-amyloid, a potential biomarker for Alzheimer's disease. With current estimates suggesting that almost half of Alzheimer's sufferers across the seven major pharmaceutical markets are undiagnosed, a simple diagnostic tool monitoring a robust biological marker is in great demand.'Content Current diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease is conducted by specialists using a psychological examination, and then later verified by post-mortem analysis. While this method is accurate - up to 90% accurate when confirmed by post-mortem - the diagnosis rate is poor because many sufferers are not seen by specialist clinicians.Datamonitor estimates that there were five million Alzheimer's sufferers in the seven major pharmaceutical markets in 2005, however, only 2.8 million were diagnosed. Alzheimer's disease is associated with an accumulation of toxic aggregated beta-amyloid in the brain. Beta-amyloid is present in the blood of normal individuals, however, significant levels of the toxic aggregated beta-amyloid is believed to be present only in the circulation of Alzheimer's patients.Blood levels of aggregated beta-amyloid could be the most accurate convenient biomarker for early Alzheimer's disease detection. Early detection would represent a significant step towards effective treatments. Not only would early intervention help slow the progression of the disease, but also, such an alternative clinical trial endpoint would aid drug development. Having now made significant progress with its EP technology, Amorfix says that it is in a position to finish its development and validate a blood test for Alzheimer's disease.This news comes on the back of a successful few months for the Canadian-based theranostics company. In Aug