Biotech Strategy Blog

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Posts tagged ‘Amyloid Plaque’

ARVO 2011 Using the eye as a window into the brain

By on May 4, 2011

Due to the pressure of other commitments, I only had the pleasure of attending the annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) for two days, but one of my key take home messages from the meeting is how we can use the eye as a window into the brain.  This is particularly relevant to Alzheimer’s research.

ARVO researchers at a lunchtime workshop that I attended asked the question of what can we learn from shared disease mechanisms in age-related macular degeneration (AMD), Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and Glaucoma to devise therapies of the future?

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Aß40 Oligomers are a potential biomarker for diagnosis of Alzheimer’s before amyloid plaque develops

By on January 25, 2011

Following on from yesterday’s blog post about Lilly’s florebetapir,  a recent paper published in PLoS One (open access) describes how Aß40 Oligomers have potential as a biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), prior to the development of amyloid plaque.

Thanks to BayBio for giving me the idea for this post when they mentioned it in their news about member & partner, Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics in Emeryville, CA.

Alzheimer’s disease is an important target therapeutic area for the biotechnology industry.  According to the Alzheimer’s Association, one in eight people aged 65 and older in the United States have Alzheimer’s disease (5.1 million). By 2030, the prevalence will have increased by approximately 50%, when an estimated 7.7 million will have the disease.

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