Alzheimer’s diagnosis blood tests could be offered on NHS within five years, experts say

Published

1 year ago

November 9, 2023

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Blood tests which help detect Alzheimer’s could be made available on the NHS within five years as charities join forces for a £5m project.

Diagnosing the condition is often difficult and relies on drawing a sample of spinal fluid from the lower back – a process known as a lumbar puncture – or brain imaging.

Many can face long waits to be seen, with less than two-thirds of people in England with dementia having a formal diagnosis.

In the hope of speeding up diagnosis and reaching more people, Alzheimer’s Research UK and the Alzheimer’s Society are working with the National Institute for Health and Care Research to bring blood tests to the NHS.

Dr Susan Kohlhaas, executive director of research and partnerships at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said they “expect more people to be coming forward for diagnosis”.

More will come forward at a younger age, she added, and she expects them to have “less obvious symptoms”.

“We need better, more scalable tests that are also accurate, and compare to current gold-standard methods,” she said.

New tests for detecting the signs of Alzheimer’s are in the research stages, including those looking for specific proteins that occur before dementia symptoms, while pharmaceutical giants Roche and Eli Lilly have also joined forces to develop a blood test.

Some tests are already available in private clinics in Hong Kong and the US, but UK charities said more work is needed to ensure tests were measuring the right combination of biomarkers.

‘New era’ of treatment only possible with better tests

With medicines like donanemab and lecanemab found to slow cognitive decline, the need for blood tests to diagnose Alzheimer’s – so people can benefit from treatment while it’s effective – has become more pressing.

Both these drugs are set to be assessed for use in the UK.

Why early Alzheimer’s tests are so important

Around 900,000 people have Alzheimer’s disease, but only two thirds or so have been diagnosed – and even they can wait months, if not years, to be told the cause of their symptoms.

That delay really matters now that the first effective drugs could soon be approved in the UK.

Lecanemab and donanemab have both been shown to significantly slow the decline in memory and thinking abilities. The earlier in the disease they are given, the more effective they are.

But an accurate diagnosis depends on detecting a rogue protein called amyloid that builds up in the brains of people with the disease.

At the moment, that can only be done by looking for clumps of the protein in the brain with a hugely expensive PET scanner – and they are few and far between in the NHS.

Or the protein can be detected by removing a sample of spinal fluid for lab analysis, a procedure that requires staff with specialist training to be done safely. Again, the NHS doesn’t have enough.

That’s why hopes are high that a blood test could offer an accurate, early diagnosis at scale.

Alzheimer’s Research UK and the Alzheimer’s Society are pushing forward with funding for a trial of a blood test that could be used on the NHS.

Blood tests for Alzheimer’s biomarkers are already available abroad privately.

But doctors need to be sure that a test is accurate enough, not wrongly confirming or ruling out the disease.

Unfortunately, a test could be five years away and there’s a real danger that in the meantime patients could lose out on life-changing drugs simply because their disease hasn’t been diagnosed in time.

“We’re sitting on the cusp of a new era of dementia treatments,” Dr Kohlhaas explained. “But the NHS doesn’t possess the required levels of diagnostic infrastructure to cope with this growing demand.”

“Currently, only 2% of people are offered advanced diagnostic tests like PET scans and lumbar punctures,” Dr Kohlhaas added.

“Significant investment is needed to ensure the NHS has the right tools to identify people with dementia much earlier than it is currently able to.”

The new project, called the Blood Biomarker Challenge, will work with researchers to pilot new blood tests in the NHS.

There is no suggestion that the tests could be used for mass population testing.

But Fiona Carragher, director of research and influencing at the Alzheimer’s Society, said introducing a blood test for dementia into UK healthcare systems would be “a truly game-changing win in the fight against this devastating disease”.

Dementia affects around 900,000 people in the UK and experts predict that will rise to 1.7 million people by 2040.

UK

Liverpool win Premier League title to equal Man Utd’s record

Published

1 hour ago

April 27, 2025

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Liverpool win Premier League title to equal Man Utd's record

Liverpool have won the Premier League title after a 5-1 victory over Tottenham at Anfield.

Arne Slot’s men did it in impressive style, turning over Spurs in a convincing win.

It was a rocky start for the Reds after Dominic Solanke put the north London side ahead.

However, fortunes quickly changed in the first half as Liverpool scored three times without a response.

In the second half, it took until the 63rd minute for Mohamed Salah to make it 4-1 before a fifth followed.

The Reds have won the title in manager Arne Slot’s first season in charge, and move level with fierce rivals Manchester United on 20 league championships.

But it makes them arguably the most successful English club ever as they have won more European Cup or Champions League titles.

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk told Sky Sports after the final whistle: “It’s special and it’s something that we don’t take for granted. It’s amazing.

“A lot of emotions before the game, during the whole week, but we got the job done and we (are) truly deserved champions of England. (Liverpool is) the most beautiful club in the world and I think we deserve all of this. Let’s enjoy the next couple of weeks and let it sink in.”

Slot took over last summer from Jurgen Klopp, who guided them to their previous and maiden Premier League title triumph in 2020, when the COVID-19 lockdown saw matches played behind closed doors.

He is the first Dutch manager to win the Premier League and the fifth man to do so in a debut campaign after Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Manuel Pellegrini, and Antonio Conte.

Speaking to Sky Sports he said: “They [the players] did an outstanding job today. The main job was to win. Everyone said we had got it already. But we had to make sure and we got over the line.”

Several players, including Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, and Mohamed Salah, played leading roles in both the 2025 and 2020 campaigns.

Van Dijk and Salah recently signed new contracts extending their careers at the club.

Liverpool will have to wait until the final game of the season – at home to Crystal Palace on 25 May – to be presented with the Premier League trophy.

It will be the first time the club’s fans will have seen their side lift the top-flight title in person since 1990.

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UK

Protesters throw powder on Tower Bridge during London Marathon

Published

7 hours ago

April 27, 2025

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Protesters throw powder on Tower Bridge during London Marathon

Two pro-Palestinian demonstrators have thrown red powder on Tower Bridge – just moments before leading runners in the London Marathon went past.

The protesters were arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance and remain in custody, said the Metropolitan Police.

A video shared by Youth Demand, which is calling for a trade embargo on Israel, shows two people jumping over a barrier that separates spectators from the race course.

The pair, wearing t-shirts that say “Youth Demand: Stop Arming Israel”, are then seen standing in the middle of the road on the bridge.

They throw red powder in the air as an official marathon car goes past displaying the race time.

A motorbike with a cameraman on board continues along the route, while a second motorbike stops and one of the riders gets off and pushes the pair out of the way, just before the men’s elite runners pass.

Several police officers then jump over the barrier and detain the pair, the footage shows.

There appeared to be no impact on the marathon.

More than 56,000 participants were expected to take part in the 26.2-mile race through the capital.

Sabastian Sawe of Kenya won the men’s elite race in a time of two hours, two minutes and 27 seconds, while Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa shattered the women’s-only world record in two hours, 15 minutes and 50 seconds.

Assefa beat the previous best of two hours, 16 minutes and 16 seconds set last year in London by Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir.

The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “At around 10.38am, two protesters from Youth Demand jumped over barriers at Tower Bridge and threw red paint on to the road.

“Marathon event staff intervened to remove the protesters from the path of the men’s elite race which was able to pass unobstructed.”

The force added that they were “quickly supported by police officers who arrested the protesters on suspicion of causing a public nuisance”.

The Met said the paint “appeared to be chalk-based” and was not expected to “present a hazard to runners yet to pass this point”.

UK

Kemi Badenoch does not rule out local coalitions with Reform after next week’s council elections

Published

12 hours ago

April 27, 2025

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Kemi Badenoch does not rule out local coalitions with Reform after next week's council elections

Kemi Badenoch has not ruled out forming coalitions at a local level with Reform after the council elections next week.

Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, the Conservative leader did however categorically rule out a pact with Nigel Farage’s party on a national level.

“I am not going into any coalition with Nigel Farage… read my lips,” she said.

However, she did not deny that deals could be struck with Reform at a local level, arguing that some councils might be under no overall control and in that case, “you have to do what is right for your local area”.

“You look at the moment, we are in coalition with Liberal Democrats, with independents,” she said. “We’ve been in coalition with Labour before at local government level.

“They [councillors] have to look at who the people are that they’re going into coalition with and see how they can deliver for local people.”

She added: “What I don’t want to hear is talks of stitch-ups or people planning things before the results are out. They have to do what is right for their communities.”

A total of 23 councils are up for grabs when voters go to the polls on Thursday 1 May – mostly in places that were once deemed Tory shires, until last year’s general election.

It includes 14 county councils, all but two of which have been Conservative-controlled, as well as eight unitary authorities, all but one of which are Tory.

Ms Badenoch has set expectations low for the Tories, suggesting they could lose all the councils they are contesting.

The last time this set of councils were up for election was in 2021, when the Conservative Party was led by Boris Johnson who was riding high from the COVID vaccine bounce.

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