CNS-Diagnostics: Chimera Biotec Starts Study on Novel Biomarker Detection for Alzheimer's Disease

03-13-2007: Chimera Biotec joins the EU funded EDAR project to adapt the Imperacer(TM) platform technology for the detection of novel biomarkers for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. The consortium wants to find out whether the new markers can be used to test efficacy of new drugs, thereby contributing to new strategies for the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease. The European Commission has supported the study with 620.000 Euro. It is a collaborative project including 11 centres from 6 European countries and is coordinated by the VU University Medical Centre in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Abnormalities in the processing of the beta amyloid protein are an important characteristic of Alzheimer's disease. Moreover, recent studies have shown that beta amyloid precursor oligomers play an important role in the early stage of Alzheimer's disease.

"To describe and characterize these oligomers will be one of the most important advancements in the understanding of Alzheimer's disease in the next years" summarizes Jan Detmers, Chimera Biotec´s Business Development Director. Currently, many companies develop drugs that influence the processing of the beta amyloid peptide and its precursors. In this study, it will be investigated whether the oligomers can be used as a diagnostic marker of Alzheimer's disease and whether it can be used to measure the effect of drug treatments.