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FORNY20-FORNY2020

MoDAl - A new kit for early and fast molecular diagnosis of PD and DLB

Awarded: NOK 0.50 mill.

Project Number:

345444

Project Period:

2023 - 2023

Funding received from:

Organisation:

Diseases with Lewi bodies (DLB), including Parkinson´s disease, dementia and other movement disorders, affect to an ageing population, and they are difficult to diagnose early and therefore to find treatments to stop their development. The researchers behind the MoDAl project have described a lab method that allows for identification of biomarkers connected to DLB at a very early stage in the disease. This technique is so sensitive that could offer the possibility to diagnose in fluids such as blood and even give a prognosis based on biomarker load, on the contrary of current methods that allow just testing in cerebrospinal fluid and only qualitative analysis of the biomarker (presence in the fluid or not). The technique has filed for a patent, and in addition to a laboratory protocol, the group is developing a kit of parts that can be offered to research and clinical laboratories around the world to facilitate the access to the technology. This will be a big leap in the study of neurological diseases and the finding of new treatments that can address their development as early as when the first symptoms start showing. Validé and the Stavanger University Hospital are partners in the MoDAl project, with the help of the Research Council of Norway and our external contractors Innokas and Brann, who have helped with health regulations and intellectual property protection, respectively.

In addition to addressing key questions for commercialization, the project is focused on building an expert team around this technology, including Nordic industry leaders specializing in medical technology. This will lead to increased regional and international cross-disciplinary collaboration and foster relationships to promote innovation in the region. By addressing an unmet need, the success of this project will also significantly impact end-users (patients, health care providers, researchers, pharmaceutical industry) and we will ensure that we engage in a proactive dissemination plan to promote the future benefits of this work, which include the opportunity to advance clinical practice to support the early and accurate diagnosis of PD/DLB, improve the design of clinical trials and observational studies, and revolutionize the possibilities to engage participants in the prodromal stages of disease in preventative trials.

Funding scheme:

FORNY20-FORNY2020