First Study to Use a pTau217 Blood Test to Detect Alzheimer’s Disease Early and at Scale
CARLSBAD, Calif., December 17, 2025 – ALZpath, Inc., a leading developer of innovative diagnostic tools for Alzheimer’s and related diseases, today announced that the Simoa® ALZpath pTau217 Assay was used in a landmark population-based study published in Nature. The assay was run on the Quanterix Simoa® platform and is powered by ALZpath’s proprietary pTau217 antibody. Using blood-based biomarker analysis, the study found that more than one in ten adults over age 70 may be eligible for treatments to slow cognitive decline. The use of pTau217 blood tests in this large-scale population study demonstrates the feasibility of deploying blood tests at scale in population-level research, supporting earlier detection and treatment eligibility assessment.
The Nature study, co-authored by Dr. Nicholas Ashton of Banner Sun Health Research Institute and conducted by University of Gothenburg (Sweden), King’s College London (UK), and Stavanger University Hospital (Norway), used a simple, non-invasive blood test to detect Alzheimer’s disease neuropathological changes (ADNC)—a key casual factor in the development of cognitive decline.
“We are proud to support this important research conducted by teams at Banner Sun Heath Research Institute, University of Gothenburg, Kings College London, and Stavanger University,” said Mike Banville, CEO of ALZpath. “As more diagnostics companies integrate the ALZpath pTau217 antibody into their blood-testing platforms, the opportunity for earlier, more globally accessible detection continues to grow. Broad adoption of blood tests will help clinicians intervene at the earliest possible stages of disease.”
The study analyzed more than 11,000 blood samples from over 9,000 participants in Norway and showed that the prevalence of ADNC increases with age—from just under 8% among individuals aged 65–69 to approximately 65% in those over 90. Among participants over age 70, ADNC was detected in 60% of individuals with dementia, in nearly one-third of those with mild cognitive impairment, and in over 20% of the cognitively unimpaired.