{"id":575918,"date":"2026-07-30T18:47:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T18:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/575918\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T18:47:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T18:47:12","slug":"new-test-that-could-identify-signs-of-alzheimers-disease-set-for-australia-but-doctors-still-urge-caution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/575918\/","title":{"rendered":"New test that could identify signs of Alzheimer’s disease set for Australia – but doctors still urge caution"},"content":{"rendered":"

By DUNCAN MURRAY FOR AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS <\/p>\n

Published: 00:50 EDT, 30 July 2026 | Updated: 00:50 EDT, 30 July 2026 <\/p>\n

A game-changing new blood test for Alzheimer’s disease<\/a> will soon be rolled out in Australia, but there’s a good reason why it won’t yet be for everyone.<\/p>\n

Confirming a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease will soon be as simple as having a blood test, with a radical new method able to detect precursors decades in advance.<\/p>\n

However, those behind it are cautious about who will be taking the test, saying if used irresponsibly it could create more uncertainty for patients.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Further clinical trials will be done on the Therapeutic Goods Administration-approved test at the new Asia-Pacific Centre of Excellence for Alzheimer’s Disease Diagnosis, to be officially opened by Health Minister Mark Butler in Sydney<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The centre is a collaboration between not-for-profit medical research institute Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) and Swiss healthcare giant Roche.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The test works by detecting the two proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease – amyloid and tau – which begin to accumulate in the brain decades before a person develops symptoms.<\/p>\n

Previously, the main diagnosis methods were either a lumbar puncture or an expensive type of brain scan that is not widely available.<\/p>\n

For those in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, the simple and non-invasive new blood test offers an opportunity to plan for what’s ahead and, if they choose, commence preventative therapies.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A game-changing new blood test for Alzheimer’s disease will soon be rolled out in Australia, but there’s a good reason why it won’t yet be for everyone<\/p>\n

\"Associate <\/p>\n

Associate Professor Emma Devenney (pictured) said people need time to plan if they received an Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Earlier is definitely better for people who have symptoms,’ Associate Professor Emma Devenney, a NeuRA neurologist, told AAP.<\/p>\n

‘It’s really important for people to plan while they still can, to give them time to do the things that they want to do.’<\/p>\n

If all goes well, the test will be available through specialist referral across Australia by the end of the year and could ultimately be accessed through Medicare.<\/p>\n

While a major development, it would initially only be available to those already showing symptoms, according to Associate Professor Devenney, who will oversee the centre.<\/p>\n

This is because while the test can detect the precursors to Alzheimer’s, it cannot yet give a time frame as to when, or even necessarily if, the disease will appear.<\/p>\n

‘It doesn’t tell you that you have the disease; it tells you that you have the changes in your brain – the abnormal proteins – that are associated with the disease,’ Professor Devenney said.<\/p>\n

A person who gets tested at the age of 60 and is positive, for example, may not experience symptoms until decades later, if at all.<\/p>\n

‘So I think we have to be really responsible in how these tests are rolled out into the community at the moment,’ she said.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Associate Professor Devenney and her colleagues\u00a0are hopeful that, with further developments, the test will be able to give physicians more certainty as to when symptoms will begin to appear.<\/p>\n

‘At some point I anticipate that it will be like going to get your cholesterol checked,’ she said.<\/p>\n

‘And hopefully by that stage we will have preventive treatments.’<\/p>\n

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