Alliance for Neurodegenerative Diagnostics

By Labmedica staff writers
Posted on 08 Apr 2005

A collaborative research agreement has been announced by Power3 Medical Products, Inc. (The Woodlands, TX, USA) and New Horizons Diagnostics Corp. (Columbia, MD, USA) for the development of antibody-based diagnostic tests for neurodegenerative disease, using the protein biomarkers of Power3 Medical.

Power3 has discovered a method of employing a series of tests for the differential diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases utilizing blood serum, which was co-developed by neurologist Dr. Stan Appel, professor of neurology at Baylor College of Medicine (Houston, TX, USA), Dr. Ira L. Goldknopf, chief scientific officer of Power3 Medical, and their respective teams.

Power3 Medical intends to develop a series of tests that involve monitoring the concentration of panels of proteins in the blood. The company has discovered unique groups of biomarkers whose profiles are relatively sensitive and specific in distinguishing patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and Parkinson's disease from each other, as well as from normal patients and patients with other neurologic disorders. In all, Power3 has identified 34 biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases.

New Horizons Diagnostics will utilize specifically tailored monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies to the biomarkers, which will be incorporated into immunoassays. Once the assays are available, New Horizons will then develop and validate diagnostic tests on their platform, which is specifically designed to detect and discriminate among the neurodegenerative diseases.

"New Horizons Diagnostics has been successfully involved in test platform development before, but none of these projects are as important or timely as the collaboration with Power3,” observed Lawrence Loomis, president of New Horizons. "With an aging population and new therapies available, early detection is paramount. We are excited to have been chosen to be part of this elite team to make a new age of diagnostics available.”

Related Links:
Power3 Medical
New Horizons