'The future of assessing risk or diagnosing AD will likely include a variety of testing modalities and biomarkers, including blood, to help clinicians identify patients in the early stages of disease progression. 'Testing to assess Alzheimer's disease has changed rapidly in the last few years, and we expect this area to continue evolving,' said Michael Racke, MD, Medical Director of Neurology at Quest Diagnostics. Through its proprietary AD-Detect™ line of blood tests, Quest enables access for patients and providers to quality laboratory innovations for Alzheimer's Disease on a broad national scale. While amyloid PET imaging is an established method for aiding the diagnosis of AD, it is significantly more expensive, invasive and specialist-dependent than blood tests. 'We know diagnosing AD is challenging, and believe our AD Detect™ services can help individuals better understand their possible risk.' 'By expanding our test availability to include p-tau217 and other blood-based biomarkers, Quest has invested significantly in providing insights to aid risk assessment and early diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease,' said Kathleen Valentine, Vice President and General Manager, Neurology, Quest Diagnostics.

The addition of p-tau217 to Quest's existing portfolio of neurology testing supports a comprehensive offering, including not only the groundbreaking use of blood tests to evaluate risk of AD, but also cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) tests to help providers assess amyloid beta 42, tau and ApoE genetic risk status. Quest Diagnostics continually seeks to expand access for patients and providers to innovations in the field of dementia, including AD, through advanced diagnostic solutions. The test is expected to be available for ordering on April 26, 2024. With a physician's test order, patients may provide a blood draw for testing from any of Quest's 2,000 patient service centers in the United States. The test is the latest addition to the AD-Detect™ portfolio of blood tests for assessing the risk of Alzheimer's Disease, which also includes testing for an array of AD biomarkers, including p-tau181 and amyloid beta (AB) proteins, as well as Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) isoform and plasma testing, for patients with cognitive impairment.

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