The recent discovery of the dye that can mark amyloid plagues in the human brain is indeed a significant one (see our coverage here). Right when we have been emphasizing the need for technologies that can help us find early signs of neurological disease, this technology gives a much needed hope to the scientific community.
Avid Radiopharmaceutical’s biomarker could help diagnose early onset Alzheimer’s
Dr. Daniel Skovronsky’s success with the amyloid-tagging dye gives a big boost to the scientific community and his company Avid Radiopharmaceuticals (a strategic investment for Pfizer). The radioactive-labelled dye tags itself to amyloid protein aggregates in the brain that have been the classical symptom of Alzheimer’s disease. His results are yet to be confirmed by the FDA but they do look promising.
This is clearly a significant development for all of us who are developing solutions for Alzheimer’s disease. At the present time, our understanding of the disease is limited, which requires us to take a back-to-square-one approach towards a solution.
The discovery of an Alzheimer’s cure depends primarily on the validation of the amyloid hypothesis
Generally all of us researchers are engaged in the standard drug discovery lifecycle, albeit in different phases at any one time. These are:
- Understanding the underlying mechanisms (model) involved in the genesis and progression of Alzheimer’s
- Creating a diagnostic tool that leverages our understanding of the disease and helps us assess its progression in individuals
- Using this tool as a yardstick to test available and in-development treatments, therefore providing a platform for comparing drug performance, and
- Choosing and Refining a promising drug that provides effective treatment to patients.
The Avid dye builds on the current model of Alzheimer’s genesis and growth: amyloid plagues. Once validated, it could become a valuable tool for assessing treatments as mentioned in #3 above. This assumption will be critical to the way things turn out for Avid – the news article does mention that if there is no direct correlation between the existence of amyloid plagues and Alzheimer’s disease, this would not be the most effective tool on the market.
The Bioasis Cognitest and Transcend technologies are on a similar path towards solving the Alzheimer’s problem; however we approach the disease from the perspective of P97′s role in disease genesis and progression. It is only through dedicated research and a collaborative development effort that we would be able to use these technologies to help Alzheimer’s patients proactively and effectively.
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