ARACLON BIOTECH, the Spanish biotechnology company,
recently presented results endorsing the capacity for diagnosis of the early
stages of Alzheimer's disease of its "ABtest" kit at the CTAD
Conference in Las Vegas and at the Annual 2009 International Drug Discovery
Science and Technology Conference, held in Shanghai. These findings mark a watershed
in the diagnosis of the disease.

Data obtained following a pilot study carried out on 40
people confirm that the "ABtest" (a kit quantifying the level of
beta-amyloid 40 and 42 in the blood), shows a high level of sensitivity and
specificity in differentiating healthy subjects from those who show mild
cognitive deterioration and Alzheimer's disease.

Its great breakthrough lies in the need to measure the
whole of the beta-amyloid in the blood so as to be able to observe significant
differences between healthy individuals and the first stage of the disease and
not only the beta-amyloid available in plasma, as has been the case up until
now.

The availability of an efficient tool that lets us
evaluate the evolution of a biomarker such as the beta-amyloid in the blood
marks a huge step forward in the research of the disease and will become a
basic tool once treatment exists.

The notable success garnered within the international
scientific community has meant that the company -partially owned by Grupo
Viamed Salud- has already initiated contacts with several multinationals with a
view to licensing the product.

 

 

25 November 2009. - The Spanish biotechnology company
Araclon Biotech recently attended the CTAD (Clinical Trials on Alzheimer's
disease) Conference held in Las Vegas -a major event in the international
calendar of clinical trials on Alzheimer's disease- and the 7th Annual
Conference 2009 of the International Drug Discovery Science and Technology,
held in Shanghai, to present the findings endorsing the diagnostic capacity of
their kit in quantifying the level of beta-amyloid 40 and 42 in the blood
(proteins recognised by the scientific world as characteristic of the damage
done by Alzheimer's disease).

 

Having carried out a pilot study on a sample of 40
subjects using the diagnostic kit (ABtest 40 and ABtest 42), the company
demonstrated how its kit shows a high level of sensitivity and specificity in
differentiating healthy subjects from those who show slight cognitive
deterioration and Alzheimer's disease.

 

The kit is able to measure the beta-amyloid found in the
whole of the individual's blood pool (not only free of plasma, but also that
which is associated with other components of the plasma, cells and proteins),
with a very low level of detection. This allows for significant differences to
be found between the levels of healthy individuals compared to unhealthy ones
and those who have mild cognitive deterioration.

 

The major discovery made by Araclon Biotech -company
partially owned by Grupo Viamed Salud-, lies in the need to measure the whole
of the beta-amyloid in the blood so as to be able to observe significant
differences between healthy individuals and unhealthy ones. "The
beta-amyloid available in plasma represents a tiny fraction of that which is
found in the total bloodstream, so that in order to be able to use it as a
biomarker of the disease, it is essential to be able to measure it as a
whole", reports Pilar de la Huerta, General Director of Araclon Biotech.

 

The Araclon Biotech "ABtest" is, to date, the
only kit on the market capable of reliably carrying out these measurements.

 

Crucial breakthrough in Alzheimer research

 

Additionally, the results obtained by Araclon Biotech are
reproducible between laboratories, which shows that we are dealing with a
resilient tool, ready for mass production which can assist both with early
diagnosis of the disease and with monitoring the results of existing treatment
and development in individuals.

 

The availability of an efficient tool that lets us
evaluate the evolution of a biomarker such as the beta-amyloid in the blood
marks a huge step forward in the research of the disease.

 

"A watershed in diagnosis"

 

As Pilar de la Huerta explains, "we have set out on
a course that represents a watershed in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.
This tool will help the development of new and effective therapies given that
it will enable clinical trials to be carried out on individuals who are at a
pre-Alzheimer's stage. In other words, it will be possible to recruit
individuals at an initial stage, without symptoms of dementia, the target
population for testing the effectiveness of any possible treatment. We are in
possession, therefore, of a key tool in the research of new drugs and the
development of suitable clinical trials".

 

In addition to the aforementioned international
conferences, on November 2, at the 6th Meeting of the Dementia Group of the
Community of Madrid (DEMCAM), the Scientific Director of Araclon Biotech, Dr.
Manuel Sarasa, presented the content and essential characteristics of the kit
and the discoveries made by the biotechnology company, earning enthusiastic
acclaim among the neurologists that took part in the event.

The notable success garnered within the international
scientific community has meant that the company has already initiated contacts
with several multinationals with a view to licensing the product.//