APOE4

Originally published July 20.

Originally published May 22.
Genentech is planning to study whether the investigational drug crenezumab can prevent Alzheimer's in a patient population genetically predisposed to get the degenerative disease.

"We are always looking at entities, particularly DTC companies, who may be marketing APOE tests without a sublicense from Athena, are making misleading representations of those tests and their clinical interpretations, and are generally violating patent claims we own and have licensed, accordingly," said a Duke spokesperson.

The "opt-in" model ensures that customers are aware of the risks and limitations of this potentially sensitive data, but some are questioning whether the direct-to-consumer model is the appropriate mechanism for delivering information on APOE status, even with additional precautions.

Takeda will study the type 2 diabetes drug Actos as an Alzheimer's prevention treatment with the help of Zinfandel Pharmaceuticals' TOMM40 test to gauge which older adults at high risk of disease onset should be enrolled in clinical trials.

Studies presented at an international conference this week suggest that TOMM40 genotyping could be a useful diagnostic strategy for predicting which healthy people with a family history of Alzheimer's will develop the disease early.