As quicker, more accurate ways to detect dementia becomes ever more urgent, Cumulus Neuroscience Ltd. has teamed up with the Universities of Bath and Bristol in the U.K. to further develop the Fastball electroencephalogram (EEG) test, a diagnostic test for earlier detection of Alzheimer’s dementia. With one in three people born in the U.K. today likely to develop dementia at some point in their lives, early diagnosis and treatment are essential for them to plan for their future.

Researchers from the University of Texas and University of Tennessee set out to determine if the long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) MALAT1 (metastasis associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1), which is known to regulate a subset of genes involved in synaptic plasticity, cognitive function and memory, plays an important role in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology.

Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis reported data validating microtubule-binding region (MTBR) of tau containing the residue 243 (MTBR-tau243) as a new cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarker specific for insoluble tau aggregates in Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

With the spotlight at this week’s Alzheimer’s Association International conference firmly fixed on the first approved therapies, advances in diagnosing the neurodegenerative disease - on which effective use of new drugs will hang - attracted less attention. However, hand-in-hand with the development of anti-amyloid drugs, development of blood-based biomarkers has made significant progress and they now have the potential to form the basis of easy to access and low cost tests.

Saniona AB has established a new research collaboration with Astronautx Ltd. in Alzheimer’s disease. The aim of the collaboration is to identify new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions by modulating a novel, undisclosed ion channel target. The research collaboration will use Saniona’s proprietary platform, Ionbase, for the modulation of ion channels.

Researchers from Prothena Biosciences Ltd. recently presented preclinical data for the full effector-function IgG1 monoclonal antibody PRX-012, which binds with high affinity to both soluble and insoluble forms of toxic amyloid-β (Aβ) aggregates.

Questionable efficacy, high priced and risky side effects are some words to describe Leqembi (lecanemab), the latest amyloid beta-targeting antibody approved by the U.S. FDA, Korean experts said, but none of that diminishes the profound significance of the drug for Alzheimer’s disease.

Responding to medical advances and new standards of care in Alzheimer’s, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is proposing to end its 10-year-old coverage with evidence development policy that has limited Medicare reimbursement of amyloid PET scans to once in a lifetime for beneficiaries – and then only when they’re used in a CMS-approved trial.