For the first time, therapeutically effective medications are now available for Alzheimer’s disease. Effective symptomatic therapies also exist for Parkinson’s disease; however, a prerequisite for successful treatment is early diagnosis—ideally through a simple blood test conducted as part of a preventive screening, even before clinical symptoms appear.

In our aging society, cases of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease are rising dramatically. This is not only immensely challenging for patients and their families, but it is also putting increasing strain on our health care systems.

Modern diagnoses are largely symptom-oriented, and thus are usually made too late. The brain is already massively and irreversibly damaged by the time symptoms start to appear. “Because of this, there is a broad consensus in the scientific community that therapy needs to begin much sooner,” says Klaus Gerwert, “even before the typical insoluble protein deposits form in the brain—these being amyloid plaques in the case of Alzheimer’s, or Lewy bodies in Parkinson’s.”