Patent Application for Biomarker-based Method to Diagnose Alzheimer's Disease
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Power3 Medical Products, Inc. has announced that it has filed a provisional patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for the Company's blood-based Alzheimer's disease (AD) specific diagnostic test.
The patent application is being filed in conjunction with major research institutions in the Houston area, with Power3 having an exclusive license to commercialize the technology involved.
This application is one of 13 provisional patent applications, 9 utility patents pending, and 1 issued patent, owned and/or licensed by Power3.
The application is in support of the Company's planned third Pre-IDE application to be filed with the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to seek their guidance on aspects of the approval process for the diagnostic tests being commercialized by the Company.
"The purpose of this blood serum test is to diagnose whether a patient has AD and distinguish that from geriatric patients who have no signs of dementia and from patients who have AD like symptoms but do not have AD," says Ira L. Goldknopf, Chief Scientific Officer of Power3 Medical.
"The test is being developed for use by internists, psychiatrists, and general neurologists, and for AD specialists as well."
"Alzheimer's disease is difficult to diagnose, particularly in the early stages, because currently there are no objective blood serum tests available for the early diagnosis of AD," said Steven Rash, chairman and chief executive officer.
"Our objective is to obtain patent protection for Power3's intellectual property rights used in this test, measuring changes among groups of biomarkers in blood serum.”
“We believe that patent protection for the specific diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease will prove to be a strong asset in the Company's ever growing intellectual property portfolio, and thereby, serve to enhance shareholder value."
Power3's test comprises collecting a blood sample from a patient, separating the proteins present in the sample, analyzing a panel of protein biomarkers using proteomic techniques, and determining whether or not the patient has AD based on the quantity of the biomarkers in the patient's sample combined with biostatistical analysis.
The Company also intends to extend the technology to high throughput immunodiagnostics suitable for clinical laboratories and doctors' offices.
