With Alzheimer’s rates climbing and diagnoses often delayed until symptoms progress, a new FDA-cleared blood test could mark a turning point in how the disease is identified and managed.
This week, the FDA cleared Roche’s Elecsys pTau181 test — only the second blood-based biomarker test approved this year for Alzheimer’s disease. The test, developed with Eli Lilly, gives primary care physicians a faster way to help rule out Alzheimer’s in patients showing signs of cognitive decline, potentially reducing reliance on costly PET scans and getting patients to answers — and treatment — sooner.
Faculty experts at the George Washington University are available to offer insight. To schedule an interview with an expert, please contact Katelyn Deckelbaum at katelyn [dot] deckelbaum
gwu [dot] edu (katelyn[dot]deckelbaum[at]gwu[dot]edu).
Christina Prather is the Chair of the Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences. She co-directs the Memory Evaluation and Treatment Clinic and provides outpatient palliative care in the GW Palliative and Supportive Care Clinic.
Tania Alchalabi, is an assistant professor of medicine with the GW Medical Faculty Associates, she also co-directs the Geriatrics outpatient memory clinic, provides mentorship to Geriatrics fellows, medical students in outpatient and transitions of care arenas.
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