As attention turns to new drugs that can address the growing burden of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in an aging global population, Retispec Inc. has developed a noninvasive test that may be able to detect early signs of the neurodegenerative disease decades before clinical symptoms appear – and when therapies appear to be most helpful in slowing or reversing Alzheimer’s. By using “off-the-shelf” ophthalmic equipment, the Toronto-based company’s solution enables assessment by optometrists or other eye professionals during a standard eye exam.
Cancer trials that stratify patients using biomarkers increase their likelihood of proceeding to the next phase more than 500% compared to trials run without biomarkers, Canadian researchers recently determined, and biotech companies have invested heavily in identifying new biomarkers for a wide range of applications. Genialis Inc. has tackled the problem of huge investment in biomarkers with little return by developing a platform that combines artificial intelligence and machine learning.
A recently published study demonstrated that Viome Life Science Inc.’s metatranscriptomic signature for oral cancer identified the malignancy from samples of saliva with more than 90% accuracy. The mRNA platform received breakthrough device designation from the FDA in May for both early-stage oral squamous cell carcinoma and oropharyngeal cancer.
LONDON – Oxford Biodynamics plc won a $910,000 grant to help validate real-world use of its epigenetics test for identifying patients who will respond to treatment with checkpoint inhibitor drugs. The award was made as part of the Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot.
Scientists at Cleveland-based Case Western Reserve University have used artificial intelligence (AI) to identify biomarkers contained in naturally occurring collagen that could predict whether breast cancer will return after treatment. Identified from standard tissue biopsy slides of early-stage breast cancer, collagen-based assays could also be less expensive than gene expression-based assays typically conducted at highly specialized labs in California.
TORONTO – Western New York Imaging Group, a one-hour drive across the U.S.-Canadian border, will soon be the site for a hard launch of Champ, a system developed by Voxneuro Inc. that evaluates suspected cognitive brain disorder or symptoms such as fatigue, memory loss or brain fog. This comes after Voxneuro won FDA registration of the cognitive platform as a class II exempt medical license, followed last month by Health Canada approval of the system for help diagnosing concussion, traumatic brain injury and dementia.
Researchers from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have developed a blood test to detect Alzheimer’s disease (AD) early. They said the test has an accuracy level of over 96% and can also monitor disease progression. This is a new approach to detecting AD compared to the commonly used cognitive tests and invasive methods that detect changes in the brain caused by AD.
Researchers from Finland and Italy published a biomarker-based algorithm for the diagnosis of dementia in the journal Diagnostics. The algorithm enables clinicians to distinguish between various neurodegenerative diseases with shared clinical presentations and select appropriate treatment. The algorithm relies primarily on blood biomarker measurements to diagnose the type of dementia much earlier than is possible with the diagnostic tools in use today.
Investigators at the Wistar Institute have identified biomarkers that could discriminate HIV-infected post-treatment controllers, that is, HIV-infected individuals who do not experience viral rebound after analytical treatment interruption.
Paris – Cardinor AS has secured $1.44 million to commercialize development of a novel ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) blood test that uses secretoneurin as a blood-based biomarker for heart disease and sudden cardiac arrest. London-based Intuitive Investments Group plc participated in this third seed round, along with existing Belgium and German investors.
