Empowered Patient Podcast Early Detection of Alzheimer’s Protein Biomarker with Home Blood Test with Dr. Rany Aburashed Neurogen Biomarking
Dr. Rany Aburashed, CEO and Founder of Neurogen Biomarking, is using a blood-based biomarker looking at p-tau 217 to detect early signs of Alzheimer's disease, up to 8-10 years before the onset of clinical symptoms. The company has built an ecosystem to provide patients with a comprehensive health assessment with an at-home blood test, cognitive testing, access to neurologists, and education on lifestyle changes that can support a good quality of life. Their mission is to take a proactive rather than the current reactive approach to diagnosing and slowing the progression of cognitive decline.
Rany explains, "The challenge for us, and this is what I saw from years of clinical practice and hospital management, is that a disease like Alzheimer's operates almost like a green light. Life is okay, you're having minor issues, but for the most part, you're moving along. Then suddenly you notice a sentinel event, which then becomes that red light, and now you have Alzheimer's dementia. And so the issue that is at the core of Alzheimer's is early detection. Is there a way for us to detect things earlier and, in turn, provide patients with an opportunity to take control of their dementia and make the necessary changes in treatments?"
"In the current setting, the way that we do it in the United States and around the world is really reactive and it is too late by the time your mother or father is developing cognitive complaints. It's very easy to ignore the early stages of it because you can function for three to five years without really anything dramatic happening. So suddenly, when that dramatic instance occurs, for example, you leave the stove on, or you get lost driving back to your house, something that's very obviously outside of the normal, that might trigger you to say, "Let's get Mom checked."
"At launch, our focus is on using the biomarker called p-tau 217. This biomarker can be detected now with more technologies in the blood at microscopic levels, and we couldn't do that effectively 10 or 15 years ago. That science has caught up, and the technology has caught up to a point that now, even 8 to 10 years before any significant clinical symptoms occur, we're able to detect if this protein is elevated. Now, if this protein is elevated, depending on the assay that we use, it's about 93%-97% sensitive for potentially developing Alzheimer's long-term. So it's a good protein to use as a triage protein."
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