Washington – The United States on Friday approved the use of the first blood test to detect the Alzheimer A measure that could help patients start treatment before with recently approved medications that slow down the progression of this devastating neurological disease.
The test, developed by the Japanese multinational Fujirebio Diagnostics, measures the proportion of two blood proteins. This proportion correlates with amyloid plaques in the brain, a distinctive seal of Alzheimer’s that until now has only been detected by means of scanned brain images especially or due to cerebrospinal fluid analysis.
“Alzheimer affects too many people, rather than breast cancer and prostate cancer together,” said Marty Makary, commissioner of the Federal Regulatory Agency Food and Medicines Administration (FDA).
According to Makary, “knowing that 10% of people over 65 suffer from Alzheimer’s, and that it is expected that by 2050 that figure will double, I hope that new medical products like this will help patients.”
“Approved treatments”
There are currently two treatments approved by the FDA for Alzheimer’s: Lecanemab and Donanemab medications, which act on the amyloid plate and have proven to slow down the cognitive deterioration, although they do not heal the disease.
The defenders of intravenous antibodies therapies, including many neurologists, argue that these treatments can offer patients a few additional months of independence and are possibly more effective if they begin in initial stages of evil.
