The California diagnostics firm AMPRION scored a major win this week for its novel proteomic diagnostic test SYNTap(r) to accurately diagnose early Parkinson's disease. The test has a unique in vitro synthesis step that amplifies the signal for synuclein (a Parkinson's protein) in CSF. The formal name for the technique is "seed amplification."
THe new news is an 1100-patient study published in Lancet Neurology this week, with a strongly favorabe Op Ed. The Michael J Fox Parkinson Foundation also is in the news with a strongly favorable assessment (the foundation also supports a large biobank and this research). Favorable press is also appearing at Endpoints, STAT, and Washington Post.
Read more at the sources below.
- Amprion home page.
- Lancet: Siderowf et al. here.
- Lancet, Op Ed, Berg & Klein here.
- MedPage Today here.
- StatNews here.
- Endpoints here.
- WaPo here. Forbes here. Guardian here.
- MFJ Foundation press release here.
- Genomeweb covered on April 26 here.
A documentary about Michael J Fox will release on AppleTv on May 12.
New drugs have remained scarce; one approach led by Abbvie failed at FDA this spring.
(Note, disclosure, I am a policy consultant for Amprion).
