Saturday, May 3, 2008

Blood test for scrapie

Amorfix Life Sciences Ltd. announced this week the detection of endogenous prions in the blood plasma of asymptomatic scrapie-infected sheep.

moddled-faced lamb"Identification of scrapie sheep prior to symptoms is critical for an effective program to eradicate the disease," said George Adams, Ph.D., chief executive officer for Amorfix. "For the first time, we have been able to sort scrapie infected and unaffected sheep using a simple blood test."

Scrapie-infected lambs as early as 17 months of age were detected by the Amorfix EP-TSE™ test. Sheep normally show symptoms of scrapie at three years to five years of age. Detection of infected sheep two to three years prior to symptoms will allow effective removal of infected animals before they have the ability to infect other sheep in the flock.

Amorfix is in discussions with potential partners to complete product development, regulatory approvals and commercialize the EP-TSE™ test.

ASI Weekly, May 2, 2008

Amorfix Life Sciences Ltd. is a theranostics company developing therapeutic products and diagnostic devices targeting brain-wasting diseases including ALS, Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD).