Westbury, NY – May 16, 2022 – BioIVT, a leading provider of biospecimens, research models and services for drug and diagnostic development, today announced that the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) Biomarkers Consortium has chosen it to supply biosamples for the Neurofilament as a Blood-Based Biomarker of Neurodegeneration in Familial Frontotemporal Degeneration (FTD) Project.

FTD, which impacts the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, is the most common form of dementia in people under 60 years of age. It can impact a person’s speech, understanding, and movement. There is currently no treatment or cure for FTD.

When neurons are damaged or die, the level of neurofilament (a protein component of the neuron) increases in the cerebrospinal fluid and blood. Recent studies indicate that increased neurofilament levels in the blood are a promising biomarker for the earliest stages of neurodegeneration.

This project will determine the most effective blood tests for measuring neurofilament levels. The goal is to produce a reliable, cost-effective, non-invasive test to identify people at increased risk of developing symptoms, especially among those with genetic markers for rare neurodegenerative diseases such as Familial FTD and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Individuals at higher risk of developing symptoms would be potential candidates for clinical trials to help develop a therapy.

“BioIVT is sourcing matched sets of cerebrospinal fluid, serum, and plasma K2 EDTA from donors afflicted with ALS and healthy volunteers. With a matched set, all three biosamples are collected at the same point in time. It is typically difficult to source and bank matched sets of biosamples from donors with rare diseases such as ALS. However, BioIVT has more than 350 clinical sites located in the United States and around the world, which enable us to identify rare donors,” said Cathie Miller, PhD, Senior Director of Product Marketing at BioIVT.

“Access to high-quality samples and clinical data from control and disease populations is critical for robust and reproducible biomarker measures and development. We appreciate the technical expertise and value-added services in sample procurement, handling and data coordination that BioIVT brings to the Neurofilament project. Their acumen augments and helps accelerate our shared objectives to identify and treat patients with these rare neurodegenerative diseases,” said Steve Hoffmann, Director of the FNIH Biomarkers Consortium.

Further information about the Biomarkers Consortium Neurofilament Project is available at https://fnih.org/what-we-do/programs/biomarkers-consortium-neurofilament-blood-based-biomarker-neurodegeneration.