Merck Sharp and Dohme and Luminex to develop Alzheimer’s disease test

Merck Sharp and Dohme has announced a collaboration with Luminex on the development of a companion diagnostic device for a new Alzheimer's disease treatment.

Luminex will be responsible for development, regulatory submission and commercialisation of the candidate companion diagnostic device, which will be paired with Merck's new drug MK-8931, a novel oral beta amyloid precursor protein site cleaving enzyme inhibitor.

The test will utilise Luminex's xMAP technology to measure concentrations of the candidate biomarkers A-beta 42 and t-tau in cerebrospinal fluid samples from patients with mild cognitive impairment, in order to assess which of them would benefit most from the use of MK-8931.

Dr Darryle Schoepp, senior vice-president and head of neuroscience and ophthalmology at Merck Research Laboratories, said: "Evaluation of biomarkers that may provide an indicator of disease onset and enable earlier diagnosis is an important goal toward facilitating early intervention and potentially improving the treatment of Alzheimer's disease."

Last month, the company agreed a new alliance with Samsung Bioepis, focusing on the development and commercialisation of a series of biosimilar therapies.