Roche and GE Healthcare collaborate to develop personalised medicine for
Alzheimer's patients
11 July 2005
BASEL, Switzerland & CHALFONT ST. GILES, England. Roche and GE
Healthcare, have announced a collaboration aimed at developing personalised
care for patients with Alzheimer's disease. In controlled clinical trials,
patients taking a Roche anti-amyloid drug candidate for Alzheimer's disease
will be monitored clinically for drug response using GE's positron emission
tomography (PET) diagnostic imaging agent. This proprietary PET technology
measures and tracks levels of beta-amyloid, a form of brain plaque believed
to cause memory loss in Alzheimer's disease patients. Previously, the
presence of plaque could only be confirmed during autopsy.
Both Roche and GE will independently analyze patient data to monitor the
progression of the disease and then share information to validate the
efficacy of both the therapeutic product and the diagnostic tool. The data
gathered will aid both companies in submitting necessary and comprehensive
data to regulatory authorities for approvals.
"This collaboration is an early step in experimental medicine," said
Peter Hug, Roche's Global Head of Pharma Partnering. "Using GE's innovative
technology allows Roche to test the efficacy of our product more accurately
than was previously possible, which in the long term, will help us
efficiently advance through clinical development, potentially helping
patients sooner."
"This imaginative and ground-breaking agreement demonstrates how medical
equipment and pharmaceutical companies are increasingly collaborating with
the aim of developing innovative, more effective and safer treatments. The
collaboration between Roche and GE should allow clinicians to identify
effective treatments earlier for this debilitating disease. Increasing
clinical value at the intersection of diagnostics and therapeutics is one
way that GE is carrying out its mission to transform healthcare from "Late
Disease" to "Early Health," said Bill Clarke, Chief Technology and Medical
Officer, GE Healthcare.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
About Alzheimer's disease
According to the World Health Organization, it is estimated that there
are approximately 18 million people worldwide suffering with Alzheimer's
disease, a figure projected to nearly double by 2025 to 34 million.
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