Business
Alzheimer’s test advanced and royalty agreement
Alzheimer’s test advanced and royalty agreement.
About this update from Aptamer Group Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n \n6 May 2025\n \nAptamer Group plc\n \n(\"Aptamer\", the \"Company\" or the \"Group\")\n \nAlzheimer's test advanced and royalty agreement\n \nOptimer-based test converted to common hospital format\nNew test format enhances commercialisation potential\nNeuro-Bio agreement includes an 11.1% blended royalty rate on sales of clinical diagnostics\n \nAptamer Group plc (AIM: APTA), the leading developer of next-generation synthetic binders delivering innovation to the life science industry, is pleased to announce the successful adaptation of the Optimer-based test for Alzheimer's disease into an Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), a format widely accepted and used in hospital laboratories.\n \nAptamer has also finalised a royalty agreement with its development partner, Neuro-Bio Ltd. Under the agreed terms, Aptamer is eligible to receive royalty payments with a blended royalty rate of 11.1% on the first £166 million of sales, with 5% thereafter for a 15-year term starting at first commercial sales across this diagnostic format. The partners estimate developing and validating a prototype ELISA assay over the next 12-18 months for transfer to a manufacturer or distributor.\n \nThis advance in test development follows the recent demonstration of an Optimer-based biosensor test that showed a statistically significant difference in levels of a novel Alzheimer's disease biomarker between saliva samples from Alzheimer's patients and healthy patient controls. Initial in-house validation of the plate-based ELISA assay at Aptamer has shown accurate detection of the biomarker over a clinically relevant range and compatibility with saliva for convenient patient sampling.\n \nFurther development efforts are being made to clinically validate the new test format. To capitalise on the potential of this patient-friendly test for Alzheimer's disease that uses saliva sampling, a staged diagnostic development strategy is now underway with Neuro-Bio, which aims to maximise market access with an initial focus on advancing the ELISA assay for widespread clinical adoption.\n \nThe Alzheimer's disease diagnostic market is valued at $8.3 billion, limited by the availability of any definitive diagnostic tests, and is expected to rise to $19.6 billion by 2029.1 While several Alzheimer's di...