Japan approves blood test kit to detect Alzheimer’s

Sysmex plans for the early introduction of the product in market

Japan approved one of the world’s first blood test kit to detect signs of Alzheimer’s disease, paving way for a simpler and speedier diagnosis of the brain-wasting ailment for which a blockbuster therapy is finally on the horizon.

Sysmex Corp’s diagnostic product that measures amyloid beta in the blood — an abnormal protein that jams nerve cells in the brain and is a marker of Alzheimer’s — was authorised for use by Japan’s health ministry, the Kobe-based firm said in a statement yesterday.

“We plan to prepare for the early introduction of the product to the market, while working toward its coverage by Japanese national health insurance,” Sysmex said.

Dementia

Japan, with the world’s highest ratio of elderly, has about 6 million people with dementia, according to the health ministry. Dementia is a broader category that includes Alzheimer’s.

The blood test kit, co-developed with Eisai Co. will give doctors in Japan an easy, inexpensive and minimally invasive tool to screen people quickly for the disease, which is currently done through PET scans, MRI or painful spinal taps.

Convenient testing will also help physicians decide who’s qualified to receive a novel therapy — lecanemab — being developed by Eisai and Biogen Inc., that may get approved in the US early next year.

Screening patients

Eisai’s drug is the first ever therapy to clearly slow the progress of Alzheimer’s — a breakthrough more than 100 years after the telltale signs of the disease were discovered. After billions of dollars spent in research by health care companies over more than 100 experimental failed drugs, the promise around lecanemab is spurring a global rush to make blood test products that can quickly screen patients who should receive the novel treatment once it’s approved.

Japan, with the world’s highest ratio of elderly, has about 6 million people with dementia, according to the health ministry.