Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute and Inverness Medical Innovations to Develop Commercial Test to Detect Early Alzheimer...( MORGANTOWN W.Va. May 27 -- The Blanc...),Health

MORGANTOWN, W.Va., May 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute (BRNI) and Inverness Medical Innovations, Inc. (Inverness, NYSE: IMA) of Waltham, Massachusetts, a global leader in rapid diagnostics and health management, announced today that they will work together to further develop and commercialize a diagnostic test for Alzheimer's disease first discovered by scientists at BRNI.

The BRNI test, once fully commercialized, could dramatically change the time and way that the disease is treated. The agreement also marks the first major global private sector deal involving BRNI technology and science. Under the terms of the arrangement, Inverness will fund the development efforts to be conducted by BRNI over an initial three year period. Inverness has also obtained an option which, if exercised, will provide Inverness with certain rights to the technology developed for use in the diagnosis, prognosis and monitoring of Alzheimer's disease.

"We are very pleased to be working with the world-class memory institute at BRNI, and share in their commitment to advance this test for Alzheimer's disease," said Ron Zwanziger, CEO of Inverness. "This is an exciting opportunity for Inverness to enhance the lives of patients with chronic disease and continues our commitment to rapidly deploy diagnostics and develop new treatments for devastating diseases such as Alzheimer's."

Affecting over 5 million Americans, Alzheimer's disease (AD) has no recognized cure and is difficult to diagnose. In fact, doctors can only definitely diagnose the illness at autopsy and there is currently no approved biochemical test to diagnose it. Finding a cure for AD is one of the central missions of the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute. In 2005, the cost to Medicare for care of beneficiaries with AD
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