Quanterix’ Simoa technology powers more than 85 percent of Neurofilament light biomarker research to be unveiled at American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting

Quanterix Corporation, a company digitizing biomarker analysis to advance the science of precision health, today announced that its ultra-sensitive Simoa technology is the driving force behind 36 of the 42 – nearly 86 percent – Nf-L abstracts being presented at the American Academy of Neurology (AAN)’s Annual Meeting, taking place from May 4-10, 2019 in Philadelphia, PA. This year’s program represents a nearly four-fold increase in Nf-L research compared to last year, reinforcing the marker’s mounting value as a key indicator of neurodegenerative disease onset and progression.

As the use cases for Nf-L grow, evidenced by the growing body of research presented at AAN, we believe that this biomarker is truly one of the most promising biomarkers for brain health with the power to completely transform the way diseases like Alzheimer’s, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s, and even brain injuries are diagnosed and treated. Nf-L has the ability to create new testing modalities for detection and treatment across numerous degenerative disease states, including some of the most difficult-to-detect conditions. Our Simoa technology helped researchers measure Nf-L accurately in blood for the first time, and it’s incredibly rewarding to see the continued impact of our technology on these and many other studies.”

Kevin Hrusovsky, Chairman and CEO of Quanterix

This year’s AAN Annual Meeting will feature Nf-L abstracts that assess the viability of the biomarker as a reliable means to detect and monitor a range of neurodegenerative diseases in blood, including Alzheimer’s Disease, MS, ALS, spinal muscular atrophy and Huntington’s. In addition to evaluating the use of serum Nf-L as a comparable marker to traditional cerebral spinal fluid (CSF), presenters will speak to the marker’s drug development benefits for neurodegenerative clinical trials, which continue to face challenges and limitations based on using imaging or cerebrospinal fluid as endpoints. Furthermore, Nf-L is currently included in 46 active clinical trials in the US alone, demonstrating the degree to which its value for monitoring drug response has grown recently.

Quanterix’ Simoa platform is among the technologies proving integral to the study of serum Nf-L for these purposes in large part because it operates at a sensitivity level that is, on average, 1,000 times greater than traditional immunoassays. This dramatic improvement in sensitivity gives researchers unprecedented visibility into the presence of blood-based biomarkers suggestive of various neurological disorders. To date, the company’s technology has been utilized in more than 300 peer-reviewed studies, with more than 170 papers addressing neurological disorders specifically. Findings from this research demonstrate Simoa’s ability to potentially see disease progression earlier than imaging or CSF, improve treatment monitoring, and accelerate the delivery of more effective and safer drugs to market.