Washington Business Journal October 6, 2006
BIOTECH

Firm to test Alzheimer's detector
Vandana Sinha
Staff Reporter

A Rockville company is trying to take the final diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease from the autopsy table to a simple blood test that would be given at the earliest sign of symptoms.

In six months, Adlyfe will begin testing its diagnostic tool for the degenerative disease, hoping to apply for European approval in two years, American and Canadian approval a year later and a product launch in 2009.

"We're looking for the next six months as being very critical for us," says Alan Rudolph, the CEO of Adlyfe, which just last month added a new chief operating officer.

If successful, Adlyfe's diagnostic test would be the first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for detecting Alzheimer's disease, although other companies are scrambling to beat it to market.

Rudolph says Adlyfe's method - testing blood samples for specific abnormally folding proteins - could provide a cheaper, easier and earlier diagnosis that tests that search for a different protein biomarker within cerebrospinal fluid.

To push its Alzheimer's test through clinical trials and double the company's 12-person staff, Adlyfe is seeking a second round of funding next year, with a goal of up to $15 million by the third quarter.

In January, the company scored its Series A round of $3.3 million, just shy of the $5 million it wanted to collect. Adlyfe had been relying solely on more than $6 million in government contracts.

At the investors' urging, Adlyfe spun off the company's blood platelet-freezing technology that helps stem bleeding

In the last six months, Adlyfe has zeroed in on Alzheimer's after its similar diagnostic tests for other human degenerative diseases, namely mad cow disease and sheep scrapie, slid out of headlines and off political agendas.

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