logo
First Alzheimer's blood test available in US in June

First Alzheimer's blood test available in US in June

Straits Times21-05-2025

The first blood test to help diagnose Alzheimer's disease will be available from late June in the US. PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO
WASHINGTON – The first blood test to help diagnose Alzheimer's disease will be available from late June in the US following regulatory clearance for its use last week, according to the Japanese company behind the innovation.
The test will initially be available at about 50 American research institutes and hospitals that specialise in Alzheimer's disease, Mr Goki Ishikawa, head of Fujirebio Holdings Inc., a unit of Japan's H.U. Group Holdings Inc., said in an interview on May 20. It's partnering with bigger rivals like Beckman Coulter Inc. to help develop and manufacture their products, he said.
The Food and Drug Administration cleared the blood test to help diagnose Alzheimer's disease last week, potentially making it easier to find and treat patients with the memory-robbing disease that affects nearly seven million Americans.
The test was cleared for use in people at least 55 years old and who exhibit signs of the disease. It is designed to detect amyloid, a protein that can build up in the brain and is a hallmark of Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia in the elderly.
The process, which takes roughly 30 minutes from drawing the blood to diagnosis, will be available to patients at a fraction of the cost of a PET scan. The method is viewed as a critical step in making new types of Alzheimer's treatments widely accessible.
Until now, patients typically have to get a specialised PET scan to detect amyloid in their brains or undergo cerebrospinal fluid tests, both of which are more expensive and invasive. The lack of quick and easy tests has until now slowed the rollout of new Alzheimer's drugs like Eisai Co. and Biogen Inc.'s Leqembi and Eli Lilly & Co.'s Kisunla.
The company plans to file data to seek approvals in Japan as early as August and Europe within this year, Mr Ishikawa said. In China, Fujirebio's undisclosed partner will probably submit data to regulators next year, he added. In India, it partners with Agappe Diagnostics Ltd.
'We have a presence in Japan but that's not necessarily the case in markets overseas,' said Mr Ishikawa. 'We can't get the market shares by ourselves, but if we supply the raw materials to partners, we can benefit through them.' BLOOMBERG
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Kennedy's firing of independent CDC advisers undermines vaccine confidence, experts say
Kennedy's firing of independent CDC advisers undermines vaccine confidence, experts say

Straits Times

timean hour ago

  • Straits Times

Kennedy's firing of independent CDC advisers undermines vaccine confidence, experts say

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attends a Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee hearing on the Department of Health and Human Services budget, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 14, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Millis CHICAGO - U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s dismissal of an independent panel of experts citing the goal of restoring trust in vaccines could undermine confidence in those available now, putting Americans at risk of preventable infectious diseases, public health experts and others said on Monday. Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, said in a commentary published in the Wall Street Journal that he was firing all 17 members of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science.' The committee reviews vaccines approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and makes recommendations to the CDC on their use. "I fear that there will be human lives lost here because of this," said Dr. Sean O'Leary, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics' Committee on Infectious Diseases. "It is a special kind of irony that he is saying he is doing this to restore trust, given that he is, as an individual, more responsible for sowing distrust in vaccines than almost anyone I can name," O'Leary said. O'Leary said pediatricians have already been fielding calls from parents who are confused about conflicting announcements earlier this month narrowing the use of COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women. "This is only going to add to that," he said. A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokesman said the agency is prioritizing public health, evidence-based medicine, and restoring public confidence in vaccine science. The firing of the entire vaccine advisory committee comes just weeks before a scheduled public meeting in which advisers were expected to weigh in and vote on a number of decisions, including the 2025-26 COVID-19 vaccine boosters. The health agency said the committee will meet as scheduled on June 25-27, but it is unclear who would serve on that panel or how they have been vetted for conflicts of interest. The agency said it would replace them with new members currently under consideration. Fired ACIP member Noel Brewer, a professor of public health at the University of North Carolina, said it took about 18 months from the time he applied until he was serving as an ACIP member. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer decried the changes. "Wiping out an entire panel of vaccine experts doesn't build trust — it shatters it, and worse, it sends a chilling message: that ideology matters more than evidence, and politics more than public health," he said in a statement. Former CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden called out Kennedy's "false claims" in the Wall Street Journal piece, saying the panel was rife with conflicts of interest. Most of the panel was appointed last year, the CDC website shows. "Make no mistake: Politicizing the ACIP as Secretary Kennedy is doing will undermine public trust under the guise of improving it." REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Trump's cuts are ‘devastating' for vulnerable women worldwide: UN
Trump's cuts are ‘devastating' for vulnerable women worldwide: UN

Straits Times

time7 hours ago

  • Straits Times

Trump's cuts are ‘devastating' for vulnerable women worldwide: UN

The withdrawal of the US from the funding arena for reproductive health has been devastating, said UNFPA chief Natalia Kanen. PHOTO: AFP NEW YORK - The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has faced budget cuts before, but the impact of US President Donald Trump's policies has been even more 'devastating' for reproductive health worldwide, chief Natalia Kanem told AFP. The agency has been targeted by US conservatives since the Kemp-Kasten Amendment's enactment in 1985 by Congress, when the administration of then president Ronald Reagan rallied against China's population policies, accusing Beijing of promoting forced abortions and sterilisations. All subsequent Republican presidencies have cut US funding to UNFPA, and the second Trump administration is no exception. 'We've had over US$330 million (S$424.78 million) worth of projects ended,' virtually overnight, in 'some of the hardest hit regions of the world' like Afghanistan, Ms Kanem said in an interview coinciding with the release of the UNFPA's annual report on June 10. 'So yes, we are suffering.' Ms Kanem pointed to the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan as an example, where over the years more than 18,000 pregnancies were delivered by 'heroic midwives' who 'conducted these over 18,000 deliveries without a single maternal death, which you know, in a crisis situation is extraordinary.' 'Those maternity wards today have closed. The funding cuts immediately have meant that those midwives are no longer able to do their jobs,' Ms Kanem said. Although it is too soon to estimate the precise impacts of the US cuts, they will inevitably result in increased maternal mortality and more unintended pregnancies, according to Ms Kanem. 'What's different this time for UNFPA is that our ecosystem of other reproductive health actors who might be able to fill in for us,' Ms Kanem said, adding they are 'reeling from huge impact of having their funding denied.' The Trump administration has slashed many such external aid programmes. 'So it is very lamentable that this year, to me, has been drastically worse than ever before, precisely because now everybody is caught up in the whirlwind.' 'The withdrawal of the United States from the funding arena for reproductive health has been devastating,' Ms Kanem said. Desire and rights American policy is not only marked by funding cuts, but also a challenge to gender equality matters. 'There will be debates about concepts, but there shouldn't be any debate about the non-negotiability of the rights and choices of women and adolescent girls,' Ms Kanem emphasised. 'We always embrace change, but we should not compromise on these common values which spell the difference between life and death for women and girls all around the world,' she continued. 'Women deserve support. Adolescent girls deserve to finish their schooling, not become pregnant, not be bartered or sent off into marriage as a non-solution to issues that families may face.' The UNFPA's annual report, published on June 10 and based on the results of a survey of 14,000 people from 14 countries – nations which represent over a third of the world's population – also underscores concerns that millions of people around the world cannot create the families they desire. More than 40 per cent of those over the age of 50 reported not having the number of children they wanted – with 31 per cent saying they had fewer kids than they desired and 12 per cent saying they had more than they wanted. More than half of respondents said economic barriers prevented them from having more children. Conversely, one in five said they were pressured into having a child, and one in three adults reported an unintended pregnancy. The majority of people 'live in countries where fertility rates have fallen so far and so fast that they are below replacement,' Ms Kanem said. 'We know that the issue of population pressure takes almost like a headline drastic view. Some people think there are way too many people. Others are saying we don't have enough, women should have more babies,' Ms Kanem said. 'What UNFPA really cares about is a woman's true desire, rights and choices,' she said. AFP Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Newborn with 'bubble boy disease' now thriving, thanks to Singapore's early detection programme
Newborn with 'bubble boy disease' now thriving, thanks to Singapore's early detection programme

New Paper

time9 hours ago

  • New Paper

Newborn with 'bubble boy disease' now thriving, thanks to Singapore's early detection programme

Mannat Singh was only six days old when he was diagnosed with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID). This means he was born without a functioning immune system, making him highly vulnerable to even the common flu. Without treatment, Mannat would not have made it past his first birthday. His mother Harminder Kaur, 39, a nurse, recalled the guilt and fear she felt "because I made him this way". SCID is a rare life-threatening genetic disorder that affects one in 50,000 babies worldwide, with one new case born in Singapore every two years. "It did not help our state of mind when his odds were stacked against him," said her husband Harminder Singh, 39, an IT consultant. It is also known as "bubble boy disease" after David Vetter, an American boy with the disease who captured the world's attention for living all his life in a sterile plastic enclosure - his "bubble". At the time of his birth in 1971, a bone marrow transplant from an exact matched donor was the only cure for SCID, but there was no match available in David's family. In 1984, four months after receiving a bone marrow transfusion via a new technique, the 12-year-old died from lymphoma, a cancer later traced to a dormant Epstein-Barr virus in the donor bone marrow. As for baby Mannat, he had Artemis SCID, a rare form of recessive radiosensitive SCID, which meant he could not be treated with radiation or have certain scans done. Mannat Singh was born without a functioning immune system, making him highly vulnerable to even the common flu. ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN Memories of what the couple went through with their younger son brought tears to Mr Singh, who said: "We were prepared to do whatever we could to give Mannat the best chance at life. We took a step at a time, discussing putting him on chemotherapy and deferring to the experts." Fortunately for Mannat, his condition was picked up at KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) through the National Expanded Newborn Screening (Nens) programme. The programme, which started in 2006 with the aim of screening all babies born in Singapore for metabolic and heritable diseases, was expanded in 2019 to include five other treatable serious childhood-onset conditions such as SCID and cystic fibrosis. In 2024, all newborns at KKH were screened under Nens, while the national screening rate in Singapore is 96 per cent. This involves pricking the baby's heels to collect a blood sample between 24 and 72 hours after birth. Screening for SCID involves checking the baby's blood for DNA fragments called T-cell receptor excision circles (Trecs), which show that the immune system is making T-cells properly, said KKH geneticist Ting Teck Wah. The test does not confirm an SCID diagnosis, but abnormalities such as low or absent Trecs signal that the baby needs to go through more testing, he said. After screening almost 178,000 babies since 2019, Nens has picked up two babies positive for SCID, Dr Ting added. Dr Bianca Chan, a consultant with the rheumatology and immunology service at KKH, said the only real curative treatment for SCID is a bone marrow transplant from a healthy donor. Stem cells from the bone marrow of a healthy donor can develop into infection-fighting T-cells, helping babies with SCID build a functioning immune system. "The highest success is when it is performed within the first three to four months of life, before the baby develops significant infections. This makes SCID screening at birth crucial for early diagnosis to actively prevent infection," she said. Dr Chan added that if the baby has an active infection before the transplant, its survival rate even with a transplant is only 50 per cent, "because it becomes very, very difficult to have a successful transplant". Mannat Singh and parents Harminder Kaur and Harminder Singh, with KKH doctors (back row, from left) Michaela Seng, Ting Teck Wah and Bianca Chan. ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN Dr Michaela Seng, a senior consultant with the haematology and oncology service at the hospital, said a programme is immediately put in place to protect the child from infections before doctors prepare for donor selection. "We meet the parents to explain the implications of the diagnosis and tell them they are typically appropriately suitable as potential donors. We also go through the process of harvesting and processing the donor stem cells, and the lab then receives these stem cells... and prepares small bags of what we call memory T-cells that help fight infection," she said. "During this time, the baby is admitted to the transplant unit and undergoes complete isolation. For seven days, he is given conditioning therapy, which is chemotherapy that is tailored to the size and the weight of the baby, to allow us to clear unnecessary cells that would prevent successful engraftment of the donor stem cells. The donor cells are then infused, and we wait for the transplant to take effect," she added. Mannat became the first newborn in Singapore to have his SCID diagnosed at birth, and the first to receive a stem cell transplant - from his mother's bone marrow - before the symptoms emerged. Today, at 19 months, Mannat is healthy and asserting himself with his parents and older brother Birakaal, aged four. "I feel now that life has returned to normal and we have put the past behind us. We are now looking forward to having the boys grow up healthy and happy," Ms Kaur said.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store