Major push on for Parkinson's, Alzheimer's biomarkers

Chemical & Engineering News gives us some good news, for a change, about the possibilities of biomarkers moving from lab to clinic. The thing is, you have to look outside of cancer to find them. "Cancer is really hard because there are so few cancer markers of any credence out there," Steven A. Carr, of the Broad Institute, tells C&E News. Carr, for example, is working on some promising heart attack biomarkers.

The article reviews some of the biomarker discovery efforts covered previously on FierceBiomarkers, including the Michael J. Fox Foundation's 5-year $40 million Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative.

Researchers are also pushing for more Alzheimer's biomarkers, since early detection of the incurable, degenerative disease is crucial. Proteome Sciences, based in the U.K. and Germany, is working with Simon Lovestone at the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London on a panel of 9 protein biomarkers for Alzheimer's. A verification study is underway until the end of the year and, if that pans out, Proteome Science plans on marketing the biomarker assay for research use, and eventually for diagnostics.

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