Matt Marcinkowski
Joel Braunstein, CEO of St. Louis–based biotechnology firm C2N Diagnostics, used to be a practicing cardiologist. Now, instead of examining a patient’s heart, he studies what the blood pumping through a person’s heart can tell us about their mind. His company’s latest product, PrecivityAD, is being lauded as the first blood test to help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease in people who have memory and cognitive issues. It does this by looking for markers that indicate the presence of amyloid plaques. It’s a major breakthrough in fighting neurodegenerative disease. Nearly every day, Braunstein and his team receive hopeful, curious messages from people who’ve learned about the test and are seeking answers. “They’re people who are saying, ‘I’ve read about this test, and this is kind of what I’ve been waiting for,’” Braunstein says. “‘If I can get more clarity from a test like this, it would be so meaningful.’”
Why a blood test for a brain disease, rather than, say, a scan? There are some approaches to detection of Alzheimer’s disease that include imaging and lumbar punctures to obtain cerebrospinal fluid. A blood test addresses issues with accessibility, cost, and the potential risk of complications, either from lumbar puncture or unnecessary radiation exposure.
Now that Alzheimer’s can be caught earlier, how can that help slow its progression? There are several things that can be done. The first is aggressive lifestyle intervention, behavioral modifications, positive diet—essentially, the kind of changes that we know are healthy for our heart and cardiovascular system are also good for the brain. A blood test result could serve as a significant motivator to make those changes. Second, it could help improve the accuracy of the clinical diagnosis. Third, it could compel an individual to consider participation in a clinical trial, which is one way to get better clinical care as well as get early access to a drug that can have an impact on the disease.
Could this test potentially identify someone who’s at risk before they even know they have a problem? The early beginnings of pathology in Alzheimer’s disease can occur 10 to 20 years before the onset of symptoms, which is scary to think about. There’s a lot of testing in the works, but we believe that biomarkers like the one we have will identify people in those early stages. That’s ultimately where we really want to be.
What’s the most exciting part about developing a new tool to fight such a devastating disease? With this kind of project ... you have the ability to introduce innovative technologies that have the opportunity to improve the standard of care for not just thousands and tens of thousands, but really a large population of people. It’s extremely rewarding.
