Amorfix presents scientific update for its Alzheimer's disease diagnostic at Alzheimer's disease conference

TSX: AMF

TORONTO, July 17, 2014 /CNW/ - Amorfix Life Sciences Ltd. announced today that the EP‑AD diagnostic assay for the early detection of Alzheimer's disease can now measure aggregated Aβ42 separately from aggregated Aβ40 in patient cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). This greatly expands the utility of the diagnostic assay and allows better understanding of the role of aggregated Aβ proteins in Alzheimer's disease. Using this new and improved Aβ diagnostic test, Amorfix scientists report the novel observation that Aβ42 aggregates are more abundant in the brain of Alzheimer's patients, whereas Aβ40 aggregates are more common in the spinal fluid. It is the aggregated form of these proteins that is associated with Alzheimer's disease. The ability to distinguish one form of the aggregated protein from another will help advance the scientific understanding of the role of aggregates in Alzheimer's disease progression and improve the targeting of new therapies to patients who are more likely to show therapeutic benefit.

Dr. Robert Gundel, President and CEO of Amorfix said "Amorfix continues to lead the way for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. Previously, we reported that our EP-AD diagnostic assay is able to identify early-stage disease patients with approximately 95% sensitivity. This is enabled by our ability to separately detect and accurately measure aggregated Aβ proteins in patient CSF, which represents a unique opportunity to further investigate the role of these proteins in disease progression. Together, these data demonstrate that the Amorfix EP-AD diagnostic assay is an important tool that can be used along with conventional methods of assessment to better identify early-stage patients for entry into clinical trials and as a biomarker to monitor the effects of treatment over time.  We are committed to an on-going effort to assist in the development of effective therapeutics for an ever growing patient population that currently has no good treatment options".    

Dr. Neil Cashman, Chief Scientific Officer, presented these world's first findings to the pharmaceutical industry and academic research scientists as a poster entitled "Separate Detection of Aggregated Aβ40 and Aggregated Aβ42 in CSF from Alzheimer's Disease Patients Using the Amorfix EP-AD Diagnostic CSF Test", on Wednesday, July 16, 2014 at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) in Copenhagen, Denmark.

About Amorfix
Amorfix Life Sciences Ltd. (TSX:AMF) is an early-stage product development company developing therapeutic antibodies and diagnostics targeting misfolded protein diseases. Amorfix utilizes its computational discovery platform, ProMIS™, to predict novel Disease Specific Epitopes (DSEs) on the molecular surface of misfolded proteins. Using this technology, Amorfix is developing novel antibody therapeutics and companion diagnostics for cancer and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In addition, Amorfix has developed two proprietary technologies to specifically identify very low levels of misfolded proteins in a biological sample: Epitope Protection™ and AMFIA™, an ultra-sensitive dual-bead immunoassay. Use of these technologies has generated a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) screening test for both Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and an ultrasensitive method for detecting the hallmark of AD, aggregated beta-Amyloid, in brain tissue, CSF and blood from animal models of AD. For more information about Amorfix, visit www.amorfix.com.

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SOURCE: Amorfix Life Sciences Ltd.

Dr. Robert Gundel, President and Chief Executive Officer, Amorfix Life Sciences Ltd., Tel: [phone], Fax: [phone], [email protected]; Warren Whitehead, Chief Financial Officer, Amorfix Life Sciences Ltd., Tel: [phone], Fax: [phone], [email protected]