NeuroScreen®
NeuroScreen® testing service is the only blood-based assay that can track the accumulation and quantity of Amyloid-β (Aβ) in the brain, even in asymptomatic individuals. It is based on NeuroQuest’s proprietary algorithm that uses immune blood-based biomarkers to predict the presence of Aβ plaque in the brain.
Why NeuroScreen®?
This testing service offers great advantages for everyone.
Patients and their families
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Enables access to new treatments
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Reduces cost, time, and impact of tests and delayed diagnosis
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Enables financial and care planning
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Facilitates appropriate use and monitoring of medication
Healthcare Providers
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Reduces cost and impact of inappropriate, ineffective drug use and/or screening tests
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Saves costs of repeated and/or multiple tests
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Helps improve patient care
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Reduces ongoing care costs with patients functioning longer
Clinicians
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Provides easy to administer, accurate diagnostic tool
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Helps improve patient care
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Strengthens diagnostic arsenal
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Offers additional test revenue opportunity
Pharmaceutical Companies
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Allows for easy and practical identification of asymptomatic individuals most likely to respond to newly developed disease modifying treatments
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Reduces drug development costs and time
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Increased efficiency with earlier, better diagnosis
We recently completed a successful research project with AIBL (the Australian Imaging, Biomarker, and Lifestyle) Flagship Study of Aging. The study included more than 500 individuals; results were published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia and analyzed by Pentara Corporation.
Our study demonstrated that the NeuroScreen® assay has 97% sensitivity (True Positive for progressing to AD) and 88% specificity (True Negative for progressing to AD) in diagnosing Aβ-positive asymptomatic individuals with AD.
Research indicates that NeuroScreen® testing service would effectively diagnose AD 5 to 7 years earlier than any other current blood-based assay.
Our Clinical Data
We believe NeuroScreen® testing service can change the standard of care for Alzheimer's disease. Our goal is to give people and their healthcare providers the information they need to make informed decisions about patients' health.
In the long term, this will require market acceptance of the idea that AD can and should be screened for, establishing that everyone age 50+ needs to be presented with the opportunity of early screening.
By providing the best possible product at the lowest possible price, the NeuroScreen® testing service will change the world by accurately detecting the disease in millions of asymptomatic individuals.
Moving Forward
Current Tools
Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) measurements are the customary diagnostic tools for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). These methods, however, are expensive, invasive, and largely unavailable to the general population and, therefore, mostly used for confirmatory diagnosis rather than early detection. This created the need for an affordable and accurate blood-based diagnostic tool to detect AD in asymptomatic patients.
Amyloid Plaque (Aβ42)
Pathologically, Alzheimer's disease is defined by the presence of amyloid plaques due to the accumulation of 42-amino-acid amyloid-beta peptide (Aβ42) and phosphorylated tau protein. Evidence suggests that the accumulation of Aβ42 in AD starts up to 30 years before clinically detectable cognitive impairment is observed, suggesting a long period of asymptomatic AD. Patients often display symptoms at 23 cL (centiloid units, the standardized quantitative measure for Aβ). NeuroScreen® is the only blood-based assay that can reliably detect the presence of Aβ plaque at 15 cL and predict the level of Aβ as the disease progresses.
Identifying patients during the asymptomatic stage of the disease can enhance the efficiency of newly developed disease-modifying treatments. The challenge is to create an easy-to-administer, blood-based test that can identify asymptomatic patients presenting with very low loads of Aβ in the brain who are likely to progress to symptomatic AD. Based on a longitudinal study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, NeuroScreen® would be effective in diagnosing AD 5 to 7 years earlier compared to any other current blood-based assay.
Leukocytes
Leukocytes are white blood cells found in the blood and lymph tissue. They are part of the body’s immune system, which helps fight infection and other diseases. Our research suggests that leukocyte surface biomarkers can be examined to predict Aβ42 accumulation in the brain and the risk of Alzheimer's disease. NeuroQuest identified that specific leukocyte markers were differentially expressed in patients with AD compared to healthy individuals. The cells' reaction to the change makes them valuable indicators of Alzheimer's disease, significant for early diagnosis and a more accurate identification of those at risk of developing symptoms of dementia.
Immune blood-based biomarkers offer a sensitive and practical approach for AD screening at an early stage and a fracture of the cost.