Roche

Pharmaceutical giant Roche and subsidiary Genentech announced a new Phase III clinical trial for gantenerumab, a monoclonal anti-amyloid antibody that is designed to treat Alzheimer’s disease.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found further evidence that microglia are the key link between the accumulation of abnormal proteins, including beta-amyloid and tau, in the brain and the actual brain damage observed in Alzheimer’s patients.

A study led by researchers at Cedars-Sinai and NeuroVision Imaging LLC provides the scientific basis for using noninvasive eye imaging to detect the pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer’s. The experimental technology, developed by Cedars-Sinai and NeuroVision, scans the retina using techniques that can identify beta-amyloid protein deposits that mirror those in the brain.