Abyssinia Biosciences and Cordance Medical have agreed to explore the potential of focused ultrasound for the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

The partnership aims to leverage Cordance's SonoBiopsy technology for the early detection of toxic amyloid abnormalities for neurodegenerative conditions.

Cordance’s SonoScript technology will be leveraged to assess how focused ultrasound can enhance the brain biodistribution of Abyssinia’s soluble oligomer targeting monoclonal antibodies.

Abyssinia Biosciences CEO and co-founder Frederic Godderis stated: "We are excited about the opportunity to partner with Cordance Medical to evaluate the performance of higher exposures of our therapeutic antibodies in preclinical Alzheimer disease models, and to explore the utility of BBB [blood-brain barrier] opening for biomarker development.

"This partnership complements our ongoing evaluation of shuttle technologies to optimise BBB penetration as well as our biomarker development efforts."

Abyssinia is currently developing drugs and vaccines targeting toxic misfolded proteins in the brain, with a focus on toxic amyloid beta aggregates or oligomers.

Alongside the development of an anti-amyloid monoclonal antibody, the company is also working on a blood-based diagnostic test that could predict and identify Alzheimer's.

Cordance Medical CEO and co-founder Bhaskar Ramamurthy stated: "Ultrasound-guided drug delivery is an emerging method to improve the efficacy and safety of Aβ immunotherapy.

“In addition to its potential to obtain liquid biopsies from brain tissue in a non-invasive way, focused ultrasound should continue to be explored as potentially one of the safest methods of monoclonal antibody brain delivery and targeted delivery to disease-relevant brain areas."

A preclinical-stage medical technology company, Cordance Medical focuses on enhancing patient outcomes in brain diseases through its NeuroAccess platform.

In October 2023, Cordance received the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) breakthrough designation status for its NeuroAccess device.

This device temporarily opens the BBB to raise the cell-free DNA concentration in the blood through a process called SonoBiopsy.

The process aids currently available liquid biopsy tests used in oncology for identifying brain tumours.