Announcement made at Alzheimer’s Association International Conference taking place in London this week, where new AI research tools were also publicised
An Irish-based health technology company is behind the development of a new dementia assessment service.
Head Diagnostics, which is headquartered at NovaUCD in Dublin, has partnered with healthcare provider Medefer on the innovation which will combine a comprehensive digital cognitive test battery with consultant-led specialist care to support earlier diagnosis.
The announcement has been timed to coincide with the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, which runs London from July 12 to 15.
The project is being designed in two parts – first is a memory assessment built around the Head Diagnostics HDx Cognition platform, which includes a digital cognitive battery clinically validated against established paper-based assessments, available at the cognition clinics or, with support, at home, with consultant oversight, and advice on whether further assessment is right for the person.
People will then have the option, through a remote, consultant-led service, to go on to a formal diagnosis of dementia, with blood tests and an MRI brain scan – and a test for Alzheimer’s disease where relevant. The service covers assessment and diagnosis only.
“HDx Cognition brings clinically validated digitised cognitive testing into everyday settings, enabling earlier identification of mild cognitive impairment before symptoms become entrenched,” said said Head Diagnostics CEO David van Zuydam.
“By detecting subtle cognitive changes at the point of first concern, we help ensure patients reach expert review sooner. We are pleased to work with Medefer to turn that earlier insight into prompt, specialist-led answers.”
The first cognition clinics are currently being established in the UK, with Medefer and Head Diagnostics will build on the initial learnings to expand the service.
The venture has received grant funding from Eisai and has been supported by Enterprise Ireland.
“Head Diagnostics is an excellent example of the innovative companies emerging from Ireland’s medtech sector,” said Enterprise Ireland head of lifescience Cepta Duffy.
“By applying advanced digital technology to support earlier cognitive assessment, the company is helping address a significant healthcare challenge.
“This collaboration with Medefer has the potential to improve access to specialist assessment and provide earlier clarity for patients and their families.
“Enterprise Ireland is proud to support Head Diagnostics as it continues to scale internationally and bring innovative Irish healthcare solutions to global markets.
The conference also facilitated the launch of three open-source AI tools to accelerate research aimed at developing new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.
The Consortium for Biomedical Research and Artificial Intelligence in Neurodegeneration (C-BRAIN), a global collaboration of academic researchers, pharmaceutical companies, and philanthropic organisations, said the tools synthesize Alzheimer’s and neuroscience literature, uncovering insights from unpublished and so called ‘dark’ or hidden data, and providing peer review-style feedback for researchers.
“Leveraging the AI revolution with scientists’ ability to generate enormous amounts of research results has created an incredible opportunity,” said C-BRAIN founder and director Dr Randall J. Bateman.
“The brain is immensely complex, but artificial intelligence inspired by the human brain can find relationships within massive amounts of data that a single human mind simply cannot hold. Our expectation is that discoveries made over the next few years will be breakthroughs that wouldn’t be possible without AI.”