Innovate UK has awarded four UK companies a share of £4 million funding through Contracts for Innovation to support innovative research into dementia diagnosis.
The funding will enable organisations to evaluate blood-based and digital biomarkers as part of the Bio-Hermes-002 study. This international study is led by the Global Alzheimer’s Platform (GAP) Foundation, a leading research group based in the US.
This Innovate UK investment forms an important part of the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission, a government-led effort committed to realising a new generation of precision dementia therapies and solutions for the UK.
The Bio-Hermes-002 study, under GAP’s leadership, focuses on exploring digital and blood-based biomarkers that can predict the extent of tau and amyloid brain pathology as measured by positron emission tomography (PET) brain imaging. These biomarkers have the potential to provide more efficient and less invasive alternatives to the current gold standard of dementia diagnosis, which relies on tau and amyloid PET scans.
The study will engage an ethnically diverse cohort of 1,000 participants shown to be cognitively normal (CN), have mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or have mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease (AD) dementia. The participants are from across 30 sites in the UK, US, Canada and Europe.
The Bio-Hermes-002 study is poised to significantly advance the understanding and diagnosis of dementia globally, with the ambition of more effective and less costly diagnostic methods. This initiative leverages the UK’s robust research ecosystem and ongoing investments to deliver life-changing innovations for dementia patients.
By fostering collaboration and providing funding that enables small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to access the study, Innovate UK and GAP are taking crucial steps that will expedite dementia clinical trials by quickly identifying appropriate eligible patients. The lack of a simple, cost-effective method to identify patients is a major risk factor in the development of much needed new therapeutics for dementia.
Hilary Evans, Dementia Mission Co-Chair and Chief Executive of Alzheimer’s Research UK said: “I’m delighted to see the Mission funding innovative biomarker research through Bio-Hermes-002 that will help transform how dementia is diagnosed. Diagnosing the disease in its earliest stages will be even more important if people are to access new first-of-a-kind treatments that are on the horizon and will also be vital to helping identify people who can be part in research. It’s also fantastic to see how the Mission is opening more opportunities for the UK to forge international collaborations, so we can be part of the world-leading effort in the fight against the devastation that dementia inflicts.”
Funded projects
Bio-Hermes-002: Cambridge Cognition digital biomarkers
Project Lead: Cambridge Cognition
Cambridge Cognition is contributing to this project by providing tools to measure digital biomarkers through touch screen and voice assessments on an iPad. These tests look at memory, language and other cognitive skills that are affected early on in Alzheimer’s. Cambridge Cognition has extensive experience working with clinical trials and has supported over 3,000 studies.
First in class artificial intelligence (AI) enabled digital biomarker for dementia risk prediction and characterisation
Project Lead: AINOSTICS
AINOSTICS’ technology can automatically and intelligently analyse scans to provide sensitive and accurate micro-structural information about key tissue and organ structures, and then compare this with information from healthy populations to detect the signatures of the disease. We intend for AINOSTICS’ software to become a routine part of clinical practice and drug development as the results of our intelligent analysis will provide clinicians, researchers and imaging centres with a convenient and cost-effective means to obtain reliable, quantitative, and objective diagnostic and prognostic data.
Next-generation Alzheimer’s disease screening using blood-based Optomics profiling
Project Lead: INTELLIGENT LAB ON FIBER (iLoF)
iLoF’s groundbreaking Optomics technology utilises photonics and AI to analyse blood-based biomarkers swiftly and non-invasively. This approach offers a stark contrast to the status quo by eliminating complex processing steps and reducing the need for invasive procedures. The test’s label-free nature and cost-effectiveness aim to dismantle existing diagnostic barriers, making early and accurate AD detection more accessible than ever before.
Accelerating Alzheimer’s Diagnosis (AccelADx) to enable precision clinical trial patient stratification and clinical care using neurophysiological biomarkers and AI
Project Lead: Cumulus Neuroscience
Cumulus Neuroscience enables biopharma to collect longitudinal, objective real-world data in clinical studies both in the clinic and in the home. The platform includes a medically approved EEG headset and tablet-based versions of validated assessments.