Alzheimer's Biomarker Tests Progressing

U.S. researchers are closing in on tests that can detect biological signs of Alzheimer's disease, an advance that would improve diagnosis and help in the search for treatments for the mind-robbing disease. R. Sargent Shriver, the founder of the Peace Corps who died on Tuesday, suffered with Alzheimer's since 2003. His famous family, including former first lady of California, Maria Shriver, worked diligently to create more awareness about Alzheimer's, often referred to as "a silent epidemic."

A team at Eli Lilly and Co.'s newly acquired Avid Radiopharmaceuticals said on Tuesday its imaging agent was highly accurate at detecting a protein linked with Alzheimer's disease in a late-stage clinical trial.

And a study led by Dr. Kristine Yaffe at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center suggests a blood test could predict if a patient is at risk for dementia years before symptoms occur.

Both studies, reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, focus on biological signs of disease, or biomarkers. They are part of a broad effort by researchers to detect early Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia.

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