eMTBR-Tau offers a non-invasive, blood-based measurement of the tau tangle burden, the core pathology associated with disease progression and cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease
Immunoassay for eMTBR-Tau is available in the NULISAseq™ Neuro 220 panel and as a single-plex assay through the Technology Access Program
Data to be featured in Alamar's workshop at AAIC 2026
FREMONT, Calif., July 07, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alamar Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALMR), a leader in precision proteomics dedicated to enabling the earliest detection of disease, today launched the first commercial eMTBR-Tau immunoassay, now available in the NULISAseq™ Neuro 220 multiplexed panel kits, immediately deployable on the entire installed base of ARGO™ HT instruments, and as a single-plex assay through the company's Technology Access Program (TAP). The assay measures eMTBR-Tau, a plasma biomarker that specifically reflects tau tangle pathology and has demonstrated strong associations with cognitive decline, clinical disease staging, and therapeutic response monitoring for Alzheimer's disease (AD).
"eMTBR-Tau is emerging as one of the most important biomarkers in Alzheimer's disease," said Dr. Yuling Luo, founder, chief executive officer and chair of Alamar Biosciences. "We believe the ability to measure tangle-specific tau pathology in combination with other neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation biomarkers from blood, with the sensitivity and specificity that NULISA™ provides, will open new possibilities in clinical research and clinical trials for disease staging, patient stratification, therapy response monitoring and, ultimately, for precision medicine."
A definitive diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease requires evidence of two hallmark pathologies: amyloid plaques and tau neurofibrillary tangles. Until recently, only one of these could be measured in blood: pTau-217, which serves as an indicator of amyloid pathology. However, a positive pTau-217 result alone is insufficient for a confirmatory diagnosis, as many individuals with amyloid accumulation have not yet developed tau tangles. Historically, measuring tau tangle burden required tau PET imaging, a method that is accurate but expensive and operationally complex.
Recent studies have shown that a blood-based eMTBR-tau243 assay, based on mass spectrometry, correlates strongly with tau tangle burden, making it a promising blood-based surrogate for tau PET imaging. Alamar's NULISA platform delivers a broadly accessible eMTBR-Tau assay that specifically targets the MTBR fragment that is generated by endogenous cleavage at site 256. The highly scalable assay measures eMTBR-Tau at attomolar sensitivity, multiplexed with other key neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation biomarkers from a single low volume sample. Beyond diagnosis, the close association between eMTBR-Tau levels and tau tangle burden may allow researchers to directly measure biological response to tau-targeted therapies and address a critical unmet need for a blood-based biomarker of treatment efficacy.