Lilly and Roche to co-develop diagnostic tool for Alzheimer’s disease

Lilly has announced a new collaboration with Roche Diagnostics to create a new diagnostic tool for Alzheimer's disease.

The companies will be developing a commercially scalable cerebrospinal fluid assay for amyloid-beta 1-42, a key marker of Alzheimer's disease. It is expected that this test could aid the effective management of the disease.

Lilly will be responsible for certain milestone payments upon successful completion of key development objectives, while Roche will handle the test's development, registration, and commercialisation.

Currently, healthcare providers seeking evidence of amyloid in living brains utulise one of two methods: cerebrospinal fluid tests, or an amyloid brain positron emission tomography scan.

Phyllis Ferrell, vice-president of Lilly's Alzheimer's disease platform, said: "We share the same commitment to providing people with Alzheimer's disease the best care possible, which includes detection as well as diagnosis and education."

Lilly has been invested in Alzheimer's research for more than two decades, with many key neuroscience studies taking place at its Erl Wood site in Windlesham.