Although nearly 44 million people worldwide have Alzheimer’s or a related dementia. Yet there is no objective, accurate, cost-effective and practical tool for early diagnosis.
Israel-South Carolina-based Biotech company, NeuroQuest, is developing a blood test for early diagnosis of Alzheimer, which can potentially identify a pre-clinical stage of the disease in a person, years before the onset of noticeable symptoms.
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The ability to identify a Alzheimer’s in a person years before the onset of noticeable symptoms will allow for earlier clinical intervention and pave the way for new therapies and research.
NeuroQuest Development Center inc. have entered into a service agreement with the University of California, San Diego for collection and processing of blood samples for their U.S. clinical validation trials.
Human trials in Israel showed NeuroQuest’s blood test to be 87 percent accurate with an 85 percent specificity rate in detecting Alzheimer’s and ALS, two common neurodegenerative diseases. With blood tests, anything over 70 percent is considered medically significant.
“Based on our pilot test results, we are cautiously optimistic about our upcoming US clinical trials, ” said Dan Touitou, CEO of NeuroQuest. The national clinical trial for older individuals who may be at risk for AD is funded by the National Institute on Aging, Eli Lilly and Company, and several philanthropic organizations.
Validation studies for NeuroQuest’s diagnostic blood test will continue in Australia and the U.S. through 2017.
The blood test is based on the principles of protective autoimmunity and nearly 20 years of award-winning research led by Professor Michal Schwartz, Chair and vice president of the international society of Neuroscience, the Weizmann Institute in Israel.
