TORONTO - Amorfix Life Sciences Ltd. said Tuesday its Alzheimer's disease diagnostic test "is ready to be applied to patient samples."
Amorfix said the test, which senses the presence of aggregated Abeta -- a protein linked to the brain-destroying disease - in plasma or cerebral spinal fluid, has been refined to detect concentrations as small as 10 parts per trillion.
"Our AD diagnostic assay is now the most sensitive test available for Abeta protein based on our survey of existing tests," stated Dr. Neil Cashman, the company's chief scientific officer.
Amorfix has received ethical approval to collect and use blood and spinal fluid to validate its technology, and has obtained samples from Alzheimer's patients and from normal controls.
Alzheimer's disease is associated with an accumulation in the brain of protein aggregates, called amyloid, linked to misfolded Abeta protein.
The Amorfix test detects aggregated Abeta, a characteristic feature of Alzheimer's. The company sees this as a significant advance in providing a reliable indicator of the disease, which at present cannot reliably be diagnosed before death.
