Research project
The Verdad Project
– Very Early, Reliable Detection of Alzheimer’s Disease
This development project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2019 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 849834.
The VERDAD project covered a 30-month development program to develop and prepare the launch of a new CE-marked diagnostic test for early detection of Alzheimer’s disease. The primary outcome is the world’s first in-vitro diagnostic (IVD) blood test using intracellular peptide quantitation for accurate AD diagnosis – PreADx – which has the potential to become a:
Key technological enabler for the pharma industry, enabling monitoring the disease dynamics over time, test the effects of an early drug prescription in AD progression and assist the selection of patients in clinical trials;
Key technological enabler for the pharma industry, enabling monitoring the disease dynamics over time, test the effects of an early drug prescription in AD progression and assist the selection of patients in clinical trials;
Widely used test for early AD detection
Contrary to existing AD blood tests, PreADx provides a direct indication of a dysfunctional immune system leading to AD’s pathological process quickly and at low cost. PreADx detects reduced clearance of Aß, through (1) efficient isolation of blood monocytes and (2) use of proprietary monoclonal antibodies combined with human recombinant anti-complex antibodies to quantify Aß degradation through an accurate immunoassay test. This dysfunctional process persists years before clinical symptoms onset, allowing for the first time to understand the disease dynamics with time and allow timely prescription of AD medications as well as follow up AD’s progression.
The project was successfully completed in 2021 by developing and CE-marking the new PreADx blood test.
(1) Yang, W. et al. Current and projected future economic burden of Parkinson’s disease in the U.S.. npj Parkinsons Dis. 6, 15 (2020).
(2) Hayes MT. Parkinson's Disease and Parkinsonism. Am J Med. 2019 Jul;132(7):802-807.
