Clinical diagnostics developer Veravas and Phanes Biotech have announced that they will co-develop a blood-based Alzheimer’s disease (AD) tau pathology test.
Financial and other details of the agreement were not disclosed.
Austin, TX-based Veravas focuses on early-stage detection and prognostic screening for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological conditions; Malvern, PA-based Phanes is an early-stage biotech company focused on developing breakthrough treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, including AD, Down syndrome-associated AD, stroke, and cognitive aging.
In a statement, the two firms said that they will use Veravas’ VeraBIND technology with Phanes’ biological intellectual property on tau pathology to develop a test to detect active disease by studying measurable binding activity between hyperphosphorylated tau and normal tau. This binding activity in the brain is a hallmark of AD.
Tau pathology, the buildup of neurofibrillary tangles composed of tau protein (tau tangles), is considered the best diagnostic and prognostic marker for AD. However, the only diagnostic method currently available to detect tau pathology and definitively diagnose AD is tau PET imaging. However, tau PET imaging is costly, and may not be readily accessible for patients.
“Our technology has the potential to eliminate the uncertainties and accessibility hurdles of current Alzheimer’s disease diagnostics for the benefit of clinicians diagnosing and treating AD, their patients, and researchers conducting clinical trials,” said Josh Soldo, chief scientific officer of Veravas.
“We look forward to working with researchers to complete clinical validation of this test and to commercially launching a laboratory-developed test leveraging this technology.”
