Testing giant Quest Diagnostics is entering the market for blood tests that help detect Alzheimer’s disease early.
this disease tormenting millions of people around the world. But early detection often relies on expensive methods, such as brain imaging and cerebrospinal fluid aspiration. The blood test developed by Quest promises to make testing easier, less expensive and more accessible.
In the short term, the main beneficiaries will be researchers trying to identify patients for clinical trials of Alzheimer’s treatments, said Dr. Michael Lack, medical director of neurology. seek.
Racke said in an interview that blood tests can identify patients who are at risk for Alzheimer’s but have yet to show any signs, making them better candidates for testing new treatments. Early trials often recruited people who were symptomatic and therefore less likely to benefit from treatment, leading to trial failure.
“The problem seems to be that what the treatments do is that they pull amyloid out of the brain,” said Racke, referring to a protein that plays a role in Alzheimer’s progression. “But you did it after the damage was done.”
The Quest’s test has been out for about a month and is called the QUEST AD-Detect Amyloid Beta 42/40 Ratio. As the name suggests, this test measures the ratio between two amyloid beta peptides. The idea is essentially to measure whether beta amyloid is leaving the bloodstream and may start to form plaques in the brain, a precursor to Alzheimer’s.
Because the test is measuring change, patients may need multiple tests, Racke said. The research aims to determine the optimal interval and how the test performs in different populations and in people with conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Also under investigation is the time between a positive blood test and the onset of Alzheimer’s symptoms.
More research could help convince clinical trial sponsors that blood tests are sufficient to screen patients, Racke said. Clinical trials of new Alzheimer’s treatments often require patients to undergo more expensive tests, such as PET scans. For now, trial sponsors may see blood tests as complementary.
“No one would say a blood test by itself is enough,” Luck said. “They want to see more data.”
Other blood tests for Alzheimer’s include PrecivityAD, which was developed by a St. Louis company called C2N Diagnostics. The C2N test also evaluates peptides of amyloid beta. Competition can also come from digital tools.Merck and digital health startup Evidation are Testing whether smartphone data can play a role in Alzheimer’s drug development.
No matter who wins the market, patients may welcome next-generation testing, according to a poll commissioned by Quest A research report released by the company this monthWhile 86% of adults expressed concern about learning they might have Alzheimer’s, 83% said they would get a blood test if the results could help researchers find better treatments.
More than nine in 10 doctors, or 96 percent, see blood tests as a way to screen patients for clinical trials, according to Quest data, which is based on an online survey conducted by Harris Polling Company in March. The surveys involved 501 primary care providers and 2,052 Americans 18 and older.
However, the potential cost of blood testing is worrying. According to Quest, more than four-fifths of physicians, or 85 percent, said the adoption of tests will depend on their reimbursement coverage.
The list price for this test is $500. Quest is an in-network provider with most health plans and is expected to cover testing depending on patient benefit design. But the company does advise patients to confirm the details of coverage with their insurance company.
Despite these concerns, the vast majority of physicians, or 94 percent, believe blood tests will be more cost-effective than other methods. Nearly nine in 10 physicians, or 87%, believe that blood tests for early detection of Alzheimer’s risk will increasingly become the standard of care,
While blood tests have continued to evolve, research into potential treatments has continued on and off.
Biogen’s new drug, Aduheim, facing a challenging road.The company recently An application seeking approval for the drug in Europe was withdrawn. Subsequent withdrawal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Decided to Offer Drugs Only to Beneficiaries Enrolled in Clinical Trials.
Despite Biogen’s hardships, Americans are optimistic about eradicating Alzheimer’s disease, with 90 percent expressing hope that new treatments will cure the debilitating disease, according to a Quest poll
Doctors are less optimistic. Half of people doubt that Alzheimer’s will be cured, a Quest poll found. Still, more than three-quarters, or 77 percent, believed the new treatment would turn the disease into a chronic, manageable disease.
If early intervention could actually bring Alzheimer’s under control, Racke said, “that would be a huge paradigm shift.”
Photo: Anastasia Usenko, Getty Images
