Alzheimer's test could shape clinical strategies

Athena Neurosciences Inc. has obtained rights to technology that will permit the company to prospectively identify persons at high risk of Alzheimer's disease, which could prove important to the design of clinical trials of therapeutics for the disease.

ATHN last week received an exclusive option to obtain worldwide rights to develop a diagnostic risk factor test for Alzheimer's based on Duke University Medical Center's discovery that alleles of the blood protein ApoE4 are indicative of an individual's risk of developing the disorder. ATHN plans to develop a genetic blood test that will measure whether a patient has zero, one or two ApoE4 alleles. ...