Amorfix Life Sciences, a product development company focused on diagnostics and therapeutics for misfolded protein diseases, today announced preliminary results indicating that their human Alzheimer's disease (AD) diagnostic assay can detect a signal from aggregated beta amyloid in the spinal fluid (CSF) from AD patients. "These results represent a significant first step towards our goal of developing and commercializing an assay that will accurately identify patients with AD, a disease that currently affects more than 5 million people in North America, a number that is expected to grow dramatically as the population ages" said Dr. Robert Gundel, Amorfix President and Chief Executive Officer. "While there is still work to do, this represents an important milestone towards the development of a valuable asset for our company. A new diagnostic tool could enable the early detection and subsequent treatment of AD, while being a major adjunct to clinical research in the field."
Alzheimer's disease is a chronic neurodegenerative illness characterized in part by memory loss, confusion, disorientation, and mood changes. Currently, the only definitive diagnostic for AD is post-mortem examination of brain tissue to detect neurofibrillary tangles and deposits of aggregated misfolded beta amyloid in plaques in and around neural tissue. "The benefit of the Amorfix assay is the ability to detect a signal in CSF, which reflects the presence of aggregated beta amyloid in the brain" said Dr. Louise Scrocchi, Associate Director of Research and Development. This is an important first step in the development of a test to screen and monitor patients undergoing experimental therapies to reduce amyloid load."
"The availability of an important diagnostic tool such as our A4 assay will facilitate research efforts into disease mechanisms behind AD, as well as enable the development of better treatments" said Dr. Neil Cashman, Amorfix Chief Scientific Officer.
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