Project description
Diagnostic tool to detect emerging Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is not curable at the final stages, but early detection and treatment could provide significant therapeutic and societal benefits. Treatment started at the early stages could either slow down or even cure AD, dramatically reducing healthcare costs. Norwegian company Pre Diagnostics is working to create a diagnostic tool to identify patients at the earliest stages before AD is evident. The accurate and cost-effective blood biomarker detection tool will directly analyse patients’ brain metabolism and detect reduced clearance of beta-amyloid, which is the earliest signal in AD pathology. The EU-funded VERDAD project will provide support for the final regulatory steps in the development of the novel tool and prepare it for the market.
Objective
Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) poses an unbearable impact in patients’ life, through progressive loss of cognitive capacities and overall quality of life. In Europe alone, there is currently a €280 bn yearly expenditure related to AD and ~10% of the population above 65 years old is currently affected by the disease, a figure that is expected to triple in the immediate future.
No treatment alternatives are available for AD patients with diagnosed disease and the existing diagnostic tools are very time consuming and expensive (6 months / 10.000 EUR). While AD is not curable at final stages of disease, detection at early stages offer several treatment alternatives for example through counseling and/or dietary interventions.
Detection and treatment of AD in its initial stages could provide major therapeutic and societal benefits. Treatment strategies at early stages could either slow down or even cure AD which would dramatically reduce the health care costs.
PreDiagnostics will exploit and transfer research knowledge developed by its founders to a commercial setting and provide a diagnostic tool to identify patients at early stages before disease is evident. Through the VERDAD project, PreDiagnostics will finalize the final regulatory steps and introduce into the market a novel, accurate and cost-effective blood biomarker detection tool. This tool directly analyses the patients’ brain metabolism and detects reduced clearance of beta-amyloid which is the first step in AD pathology.
The VERDAD project will allow for market introduction of a disruptive diagnostic test to identify AD decades before clinical signs are visible. This will facilitate early disease diagnosis and implementation of prevention strategies in likely patients. We have developed necessary collaborations to roll-out our diagnostic tool which will lead to major costs saving for the Health Care sector, generate new employment opportunities and in unlock a revenue stream of over €1.5bn 10-years post-Project.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2Coordinator
0382 Oslo
Norway
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.