WASHINGTON– Altoida, Inc. an AI company pioneering next-generation neurological disease diagnostics, announced the initiation of a five-year multicenter observational study with participation from thousands of patients representing all phases along the Alzheimer’s disease continuum.
This landmark research study will be launched in collaboration with Eisai Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Tokyo, CEO: Haruo Naito, “Eisai”), and the Bioinformatics and Human Electrophysiology Laboratory (BiHeLab), Department of Informatics at Ionian University.
Altoida’s software device will use artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze cognitive test results to help diagnose neurological diseases, like Alzheimer’s disease, in the earliest phases. Their proprietary digital test activities use augmented reality (AR) to simulate real-world activities of daily living and can be completed on a smartphone or tablet in under ten minutes.
Altoida will evaluate its software and proprietary digital biomarker data alongside a breadth of clinical data (imaging, genomics, and other biomarker data) to validate the company’s device in detecting early neurocognitive impairments, which are currently undetectable by other technologies.
Often-overlooked impairments in cognition and function may be the key to predicting that an individual will progress from an early preclinical or Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) stage to full onset of a neurodegenerative disease, such as Alzheimer’s Disease. Diagnosing the condition that early, before symptoms have even begun to appear, could help physicians begin to treat at-risk patients, potentially delaying the onset or lessening the severity of the neurodegenerative disease.
BiHELab, a leading research center specializing in the application of mathematical modeling and machine learning techniques to neurodegenerative diseases, will apply analytical methods to help better quantify and understand hallmark pathological signatures, such as protein misfolding meta-analysis, and unlock key insights across the breadth of study data.
“We are launching the world’s most comprehensive study ever conducted in Alzheimer’s, and related neurological diseases,” said Travis Bond, CEO of Altoida. “By using Altoida’s device alongside traditional neuropsychological tests, imaging procedures (PET and MRI), cerebrospinal (CSF) fluid collection procedures, phenotypic assessments, and genomic assessments, this collaboration has the potential to unlock more about the pathology and the progression of Alzheimer’s than has ever been understood before, and to enable a new gold standard with Precision Neurology.”
“Through this collaborative study with Altoida and Ionian University, we look forward to gaining new insights into the Alzheimer’s Disease continuum from various aspects of rich data sets,” said Keisuke Naito, Chief Ecosystem Officer of Eisai. “The insights obtained will not only contribute to supporting dementia patients, but also to informing care for those concerned about developing dementia.”
“This study has the potential to quantify the contribution of many different parameters, patterns, and signatures in the progression from Mild Cognitive Impairment to Alzheimer’s,” said Professor Panagiotis Vlamos, Scientific Director at BiHELab. “With this deeper understanding of Alzheimer’s pathology, we can define and develop comprehensive analytical models to predict disease progression with unprecedented accuracy.”
In July 2021, Altoida won FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for development of their device to use artificial intelligence to predict the likelihood that an individual aged 55+ with Mild Cognitive Impairment will convert to Alzheimer’s disease. Altoida also secured funding from the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation Diagnostics Accelerator, co-founded by Bill Gates, to evaluate their device for predictive diagnosis of Alzheimer’s in the preclinical phase.
