Washington D.C., Jan. 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation® (GAP) is pleased to welcome Beckman Coulter Diagnostics as a strategic partner in the Bio-Hermes-002 study. This first-time collaboration will enhance this unique, observational platform study that compares blood-based and digital biomarkers across a broad range of clinical cognitive conditions, MRI and PET images as well as numerous races and ethnicities in order to generate data that may help predict, detect and diagnose Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
Like Bio-Hermes-001, the Bio-Hermes-002 study is setting a standard for improving participation from people who are traditionally underrepresented in Alzheimer’s clinical research, with an unprecedented commitment to remain open until at least 25% of participants are from these communities.
As a global leader in healthcare assessments and solutions, Beckman Coulter Diagnostics will contribute biomarker test results that will enrich the unique data generated by Bio-Hermes-002. The partnership will build upon the findings from Bio-Hermes-001, expanding the evaluation of the ability of each biomarker, or combination of biomarkers, to predict the accumulation of amyloid and tau in the brain – hallmark characteristics of Alzheimer’s.
“We welcome Beckman Coulter and the contribution their biomarker technologies will make to the Bio-Hermes-002 study. This study is essential for improving diagnostics for Alzheimer’s disease, and by leveraging Beckman Coulter’s expertise we expect to advance the field and create more equitable access to diagnostics and treatments for AD patients wherever they live” said John Dwyer, President of GAP.
“The Bio-Hermes-002 study is an exciting opportunity to advance our understanding of diagnostic biomarkers in Alzheimer’s disease from diverse ethnic, racial, and clinical cohorts,” said Zivjena Vucetic, Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer at Beckman Coulter Diagnostics. “Specifically, access to Bio-Hermes-002’s well characterized samples will facilitate our development of a blood-based Alzheimer’s disease test in concordance with gold standards for neurodegenerative testing, such as positron emissions tomography (PET) scanning, and cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) analysis. With the rapid advancements in biomarker technologies, this study is positioned to provide invaluable insights into how blood-based biomarkers may reduce the number of AD trial screen failures, and facilitate identifying, monitoring, and potentially intervening in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.”
Data from the test results from the Bio-Hermes-002 study will be securely stored on the AD Workbench from the Alzheimer’s Disease Data Initiative. The AD Workbench is a global, secure, cloud-based data sharing and analytics environment that enables researchers to share, access and analyze data across multiple platforms. After the study is closed, the data from Bio-Hermes-002 will eventually become available to Alzheimer’s researchers worldwide as part of the Alzheimer’s Disease Discovery Initiative’s AD Workbench.
Beckman Coulter Diagnostics joins collaborators Eli Lilly and Company and Biogen along with a growing list of exceptional partners providing blood-based biomarker assessments or digital assessments for Bio-Hermes-002. To date, the partners include Cognivue, Fujirebio, LifeArc, Linus Health, Lucent Diagnostics, a Quanterix brand, Sunbird Bio, ViewMind, AINOSTICS, Cambridge Cognition Limited, iLoF, and Cumulus Neuroscience Limited.
For more information about the Bio-Hermes-002 study and how to participate, visit https://globalalzplatform.org.
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About the Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation (GAP):
The nonprofit Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation was founded to speed the delivery of Alzheimer’s treatments with a commitment to promoting diversity in clinical research, as well as lowering the cost and duration of clinical trials to ensure that no one is left behind. As part of its mission, GAP supports more than 100 clinical research sites worldwide through study start-up and recruitment activities, promoting diversity in research studies, and giving attention to the citizen scientists who make research possible.