Study of P-tau217 diagnostic aid in Alzheimers Disease published in JAMA.- Eli Lilly

A new study on Lilly's blood test for Alzheimer's disease (AD), P-tau217 (phosphorylated tau at threonine-217), was published in JAMA. The results showed that P-tau217 distinguished AD from other neurodegenerative diseases significantly better than other blood-based biomarkers or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). These data will also be presented at the upcoming 2020 Alzheimer's Association International Conference(AAIC). Eli Lilly and Company and Avid Radiopharmaceuticals Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Lilly, are studying P-tau217 as a biomarker of AD pathology. The cross-sectional three-cohort study included patients from an Arizona-based neuropathology cohort, the Swedish BioFINDER-2 cohort and a cohort of Colombian autosomal-dominant AD relatives. The study findings showed that P-tau217 accurately identified AD from other neurodegenerative diseases in both an Arizona-based neuropathology cohort and in the Swedish BioFINDER-2 study. In the third Colombian cohort, P-tau217 in mutation carriers' blood was elevated about 20 years before anticipated symptom onset and was associated with memory performance. The JAMA publication provides strong support that P-tau217, measured in plasma, could be used to improve the differential diagnosis of patients with cognitive impairment. The analysis also showed the test did not perform significantly different than cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)- or positron emission tomography (PET)-based tau biomarkers. A timely and accurate diagnosis of patients with cognitive impairment requires an approach which combines a variety of diagnostic tests. Lilly will continue to optimize the assay and determine its potential role in clinical care. The reliability and efficacy of P-tau217 has not been established and it is not approved by any regulatory authority worldwide. More data on P-tau217 will be presented at upcoming scientific meetings, including AAIC (July 27-31) and the Clinical Trials in Alzheimer's Disease Conference, CTAD, (November 4-7).