Translating Complex Scientific Findings into Actionable Insights

PE: The recent JAMA study highlights the association between biomarkers like p-tau181, NfL, and GFAP and early cognitive decline. From a product marketing perspective, how do you approach translating complex scientific findings like these into actionable insights for healthcare providers and stakeholders?
Tetrault: Yes, I think it's important when a study like the JAMA study on subjective cognitive decline comes out to be able to translate it in such a way that it makes sense for a general audience as well as clinicians, right? And the significance of this study was interesting in the sense that they use subjective markers, so they use the patient's own findings and understanding of their day-to-day life to determine, you know, would this person be good for additional testing for Alzheimer's markers? And what's interesting here is, you know, on your yearly physicals, you go in, you often have blood draws, and it's, it's quite routine to have these blood draws. And now, given that there's the opportunity to test for certain biomarkers of Alzheimer's in the blood, it just makes sense to if someone is self- reporting, or the person that they're coming in with is self-reporting, some changes in behavior over the year, to flag those folks as those that could be good candidates for plasma biomarker testing for certain markers of Alzheimer's disease, earlier than you would traditionally.

PE: How do you see technological capabilities like Simoa’s influencing the future landscape of early detection in neurodegenerative diseases?
Tetrault: So, technologies like Simoa are critical in the sense that the earlier you catch a disease, the better you have an opportunity for intervention and remediation, right? And so technologies like Simoa, which provide ultra-sensitive detection, allow you to measure disease onset earlier than you traditionally would have, right? So, the ability to measure at the initial increase of a particular biomarker is ideal, and it's a best fit, especially in a clinician's office, to determine, you know, from last year's exam to this one, the change that they're indicating, does it mark up? Does it measure up in the blood as well? And if you can see an early change, a very early change, the administration of drug intervention or Therapeutics is ideal, right? You can slow that cognitive decline. You can allow the person to have a better quality of life for a longer period of time than they would if you waited for true cognitive symptoms that are delaying their function to set in at the age of 65 or older, when these conditions, these neurodegenerative conditions, are usually diagnosed.