While the FDA weighs aducanumab’s marketing license application, Alzheimer’s researchers agree that the agency’s own statistician correctly assessed the data as weak. Most prefer that one more trial be done.
Regulators in the U.S. and Europe have certified a mass-spectrometry-based blood test for amyloid-β. Plasma phospho-tau markers are poised to come next.
Remote assessments on a smartphone closely matched tests taken in the clinic. They also may detect slip-ups in learning—an earlier cognitive deficit that arises in preclinical AD.