NEW YORK – The Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative said Thursday that it has created a new initiative in five countries to use blood biomarkers and confirmatory diagnostic testing to improve timely diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.
The Accurate Diagnosis project will be led by the DAC Healthcare System Preparedness team and will study the use of blood biomarkers as part of the Alzheimer's diagnostic process. Under the 18-month program, healthcare systems in Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, the UK, and the US will "deploy, evaluate, and disseminate real-world learnings of [blood biomarkers] and confirmatory Alzheimer's pathology testing," the DAC said in a statement.
Initial sites include the University of Kansas Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Alzheimer Center Amsterdam at Amsterdam UMC, Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, Ludwig-Maximilians University Hospital Munich-Alzheimer’s Therapy and Research Center, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Geriatrics and Gerontology.
Four partners are providing contributions of blood biomarkers or cerebrospinal fluid test kits to support the project. C2N Diagnostics and Quanterix are providing blood biomarkers, while Fujirebio and Roche are providing both blood biomarkers and CSF testing.
The project's goal is to allow healthcare providers to use tests for clinical practice that are traditionally deployed in research settings, "thereby accelerating the translation of validated tools from research to timely patient care," the DAC added.
"We are committed to advancing timely diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease in all resource settings, in every country, thus leveraging learnings for the benefit of all," DAC Founding Chairman George Vradenburg said in a statement. "The Accurate Diagnosis project will help catalyze healthcare system change and will make patient-centered care and support more widely accessible."