New Hope Offered for Alzheimer's Disease

New Blood Test Could Bring Faster Diagnosis, Treatment Phoenix, AZ - The potential is life-changing. A new test to diagnose Alzheimer's disease earlier could lead to more quality family time. GW Medical Technologies LLC is working to make it happen. The Phoenix-based company received a $1,036,000 SBIR Phase II grant from the National Institute on Aging, a division of the National Institutes of Health, for more clinical testing of its new blood test. The goal of the LymPro(tm) Test (Lymphocyte Proliferation Test) is to make it faster and easier to differentiate Alzheimer's disease from other dementias so therapeutics can be safely and quickly prescribed. "Time to treatment is critically important when treating Alzheimer's patients," explains Dr. Prakash Rao, the project's principal investigator. "The sooner patients are diagnosed, the sooner they can get treatment to slow down the disease's devastating effects." Current Alzheimer's diagnosis takes 12-18 months and costs thousands of dollars. GW Medical's LymPro(tm) Test could bring a diagnosis in as little as a few days, costing less than $350. "Continued support from The National Institutes of Health is tremendously important to us," says William Gartner, GW Medical CEO. "It allows us to speed the commercialization of this technology and reach more families sooner." According to the Alzheimer's Association, more than 70-percent of Alzheimer's patients live at home with family and friends providing most of the care. As the disease progresses, the physical, emotional and financial stress among families grows. Caring for America's 4.5 million Alzheimer's patients costs $100 billion annually.