Study to Evaluate Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diagnostic Test

A proteomics company, which specializes in the development and commercialization of diagnostic tests for the early detection of breast cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, commenced a 300 patient clinical validation study of its diagnostic test for Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

Called NuroPro, the diagnostic test is based on the discovery of a group of 59 proteins that demonstrate significant differences in blood serum concentration for patients with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. In blood serum, these protein biomarker combinations, when measured by blood serum proteomics, should lead to a more effective diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

The blinded clinical evaluation study of NuroPro, a product developed by Power3 Medical Products (Houston, TX, USA), is being led by Dr. Marwan Sabbagh, from the Sun Health Research Institute (SHRI; Sun City, AZ, USA). The study includes one hundred Alzheimer's disease patients, 100 Parkinson's disease patients, and 100 controls. The Parkinson's disease patients in the clinical validation study will augment the Parkinson's disease validation study presently ongoing with the Research Institute of Thessaly (Greece) led by Katerina Markopoulou.

"The medical community continues its quest for a reliable blood test to be used as a diagnostic for Alzheimer's disease,” said Dr. Sabbagh. "The Power3 test could provide the answer with its identification of protein biomarkers for Alzheimer's and the development of a blood serum diagnostic. We, at SHRI, are excited to contribute to this important project.”

Power3 expects expect to launch the NuroPro test for Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease at the conclusion of this clinical validation study, which is expected to be late in 2008.

A proteomics company, Power3 Medical Products is engaged in the commercialization of protein biomarkers, pathways, and mechanisms of diseases through the development of diagnostic tests and drug targets for cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Power3's technologies are used to develop screening and diagnostic tests for the early detection and prognosis of disease, identify protein biomarkers, and drug targets. Diagnostic tests are targeted toward markets with critical, unmet needs in areas such as breast cancer and neurodegenerative disease.


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Sun Health Research Institute