Applied NeuroSolutions Announces Promising Results For A Blood-Based Test For Alzheimer's Disease

Main Category: Alzheimer's / Dementia
Article Date: 24 Jul 2009 - 23:00 PDT

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Applied NeuroSolutions, Inc. (OTC BB:APSN), a biotechnology company focused on the development of products for the early diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease ("AD"), announced it has achieved promising results in its development of a blood-based test related to the diagnosis of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The results of two studies, which provided data from blinded serum samples, showed the ability of this tau-based test to differentiate between patients with AD and normal controls with a sensitivity greater than 80% and a specificity greater than 70%.

Peter Davies, Ph.D., the Company's founding scientist and the Burton P. and Judith Resnick Professor of Alzheimer's Disease Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, commented, "In reviewing both data sets, I am delighted to see a signal that is directly linked to the pathology of Alzheimer's disease that can potentially distinguish AD from controls. In my opinion, this represents an important step forward towards a useful serum-based biomarker in the AD field."

"The results from these studies represent achievement of our feasibility milestone and key progress on our path to develop an AD serum-based test for commercialization. Initially, we envision this minimally invasive serum-based test will be used in a research mode by pharma and biotech companies in their drug development efforts and clinical trial screening, as well as by physicians through a reference lab analysis," commented Ellen R. Hoffing, Applied NeuroSolutions' Chairman, President and CEO. "We will now be focusing on raising the funds necessary to continue our diagnostic development program. A successful fund raise will support achievement of our next milestone to increase the sensitivity and specificity of the test, while significantly increasing the analysis of patient samples. The knowledge gained during our development of a CSF-based diagnostic test for AD has been instrumental in the development of this serum-based test."

There is a significant unmet need for an easy to administer, reliable and cost effective AD diagnostic test as patients with a neurodegenerative disease such as AD are likely to benefit most from early diagnosis and treatment. The population at risk of the disease continues to grow. It is estimated that over 5 million people in the U.S. currently have AD (nearly 30 million worldwide) and that 10 million baby boomers will develop AD in their lifetime. Currently there are more than 50 million people over age 60 in the U.S., and this number is expected to steadily increase due to the aging baby boomer population. The availability of a reliable blood test that could be used as an annual screening tool for AD yields estimates for the global market that could exceed $1 billion.

Source
Applied NeuroSolutions

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