KineMed, Inc., a commercial-stage company with a biomarker platform technology, has signed an agreement with Amgen to apply its mass spectrometric Dynamic Proteomics platform to the study of brain protein homeostasis linked to neurodegenerative diseases.

KineMed’s biomarker platform will allow Amgen to track synthesis and clearance rates of pathogenic proteins in the brain that drive neurodegeneration.

“Normal brain aging and neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases, are characterized by the accumulation of misfolded proteins in the brain. Diagnostic tests have not previously been available that reflect the underlying dynamics of the proteins believed to play a causal role in neurodegeneration. This has been a major obstacle in developing drugs that slow the accumulation of these misfolded proteins,” said Dr Fanara, vice president of Neuroscience at KineMed and principal investigator on this study.

Neurodegenerative disease is a significant health burden worldwide with few effective treatment options available to patients; according to the Harvard NeuroDiscovery Centre, without the development of new treatments, in 30 years’ time more than 12 million Americans may be suffering from some form of neurodegenerative disease. The growing number of patients underscores the urgent need to build new tools to guide and accelerate the development of effective treatments for neurodegenerative disease.