New funding to accelerate Alzheimer’s disease diagnostic platform

Based on two decades of global research, Swiss-U.S. company Altoida is developing an artificial intelligence-based device to monitor neurocognitive function in order to predict Alzheimer’s within 12 months before onset. The diagnostic results are based on a 10-minute set of activities completed on a smartphone or tablet. This industry-first predictive diagnostic won Altoida Breakthrough Device Designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in July 2021.

To accelerate development and preclinical studies for Altoida's predictive device, the medtech startup has obtained funding from the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF), an initiative that accelerates ideas for easier, more accurate, and earlier diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. The ADDF awarded $15 million in new investments in the second quarter of 2021, reaching into nearly every corner of Alzheimer’s research. The Altoida team led by the company's Chief Scientific Officer Ioannis Tarnanas will receive $498,335 to demonstrate the usefulness of their platform.

Created in 2018, the Diagnostics Accelerator is a partnership of funders with funding commitments totalling nearly $50 million over three years. The funds stem from ADDF Co-Founder Leonard A. Lauder, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, MacKenzie Scott, the Dolby family, the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, and The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, among others, and will flow into developing novel biomarkers for the early detection of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

“The ADDF is delighted to support the researchers at Altoida as they leverage rapidly evolving technology in innovative ways to improve early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease,” said Howard Fillit, Founding Executive Director and Chief Science Officer of the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF). “Digital biomarkers can truly revolutionize our approach to this complex disease by giving us accessible, easy to use, inexpensive and accurate ways to diagnose patients earlier than ever before, even before symptoms appear.”

(Press release/RAN)