Summary: The Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) has invested $7 million in C2N Diagnostics to advance the development of blood-based biomarkers for Alzheimer’s.
Takeaways:
- The $7 million investment from ADDF’s Diagnostics Accelerator is the largest to date, supporting C2N’s development of blood tests like PrecivityAD2, which could replace invasive diagnostics like PET scans and spinal taps.
- Blood-based biomarkers, such as PTau217, are crucial for enabling precision medicine approaches in Alzheimer’s treatment, similar to advancements in cancer care.
- The partnership between ADDF and C2N aims to make Alzheimer’s diagnostic tests scalable and accessible globally, promoting early detection and improving patient outcomes.
The Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) announced a new investment in C2N Diagnostics. The $7 million investment is the largest to date from the ADDF’s Diagnostics Accelerator (DxA) and underscores the DxA’s commitment to developing and deploying novel biomarkers, including blood tests, that will transform the Alzheimer’s diagnostic landscape, a core tenet of the ADDF’s mission.
The Significance of Blood Testing for Alzheimer’s
Scalable, accessible blood-based biomarkers will be critical to enabling a combination therapy and precision medicine approach in Alzheimer’s, like in cancer care.
“Blood tests are transforming Alzheimer’s disease detection and will continue to play a critical role in the future of Alzheimer’s treatment and research,” says Howard Fillit, MD, co-founder and chief science officer at the ADDF. “PTau217 has emerged as the blood-based biomarker gold standard for diagnostic purposes and studies show that C2N’s PrecivityAD2 test has industry-leading sensitivity and accuracy, positioning these tests to replace more invasive PET scans and spinal taps. This investment will improve this critical tool’s accessibility, a pillar of the DxA’s mission to develop diagnostics for the millions of patients living with this disease.”
C2N’s Alzheimer’s Blood Tests
C2N’s pioneering blood tests are rooted in scientific rigor with a history of breakthroughs. Notably, the company’s PrecivityAD blood test was first-to-market with the help of ADDF seed-funding. With this new investment, C2N intends to develop a deployable version of its blood biomarker detection platform, like well-known diagnostics platforms such as Roche’s Elecsys and Fujirebio’s Lumipulse, that will enable global access to the test. This investment builds upon the ADDF and C2N’s longstanding partnership.
“C2N Diagnostics gratefully appreciates the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation’s DxA for their trust and confidence in our approach and for providing this critical funding. We recognize the significance of being the largest recipient to date of DxA funding and take that responsibility very seriously,” says Joel Braunstein, MD, CEO and co-founder of C2N. “We’re intensely focused on our goal to develop an end-to-end clinical mass spectrometry solution. This platform will enable high-performance Alzheimer’s disease testing on a global scale. C2N believes a decentralized process for high-performance testing, developed and qualified in a regulatory-compliant manner, is a requisite to address the growing global demand for early and accurate disease detection.”
About the ADDF’s Diagnostics Accelerator
Blood-based biomarkers are one part of the DxA’s diverse portfolio, which also includes ocular tests and digital tools. To date, the DxA has invested more than $70 million in over 60 projects. Along with blood tests, the future of Alzheimer’s diagnostics will incorporate digital and ocular tools that will not only provide patients with early and accurate diagnoses, but also have the potential to be used for screening, prognostic, and prevention efforts.
“Sensitive and accurate biomarkers are crucial to support early diagnosis and intervention, which studies show can have considerable impact on disease progression,” says Niranjan Bose, PhD, B Pharm, managing director of Health & Life Sciences at Gates Ventures. “The true measure of the value of a biomarker is whether it’s accessible and scalable enough to promote adoption and subsequently transform the diagnostic landscape—which is what we hope to do here.”
Advancements in Alzheimer’s blood tests will help accelerate drug development and clinical trials by providing faster and more cost-effective ways to enroll patients into trials and will aid in monitoring the target engagement of new drugs. Ultimately, blood tests and novel biomarkers will support the future of combination therapy and precision medicine—the holy grail of Alzheimer’s treatment.
