Dr. Marwan Sabbagh Joins the Cognoptix Scientific Advisory Board

MARLBOROUGH, Mass., Aug. 10, 2021 — Cognoptix, pioneering an eye-scan technology platform for early detection of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), welcomes Marwan Noel Sabbagh, MD to our Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). Dr. Sabbagh will help guide the strategic direction of the company and support our focus on winning FDA approval for the Sapphire II system.

marwan sabbagh mdDr. Sabbagh is one of the leaders in the field of Alzheimer’s Disease and related disorders, serving as the director of translational research at Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health.  Previously Dr. Sabbagh was the Director of the Alzheimer’s and Memory Disorders Division at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, where he was also a professor of neurology.

Dr. Sabbagh has published over 320 scientific and medical research articles on Alzheimer’s Disease and remains a prominent investigator and key opinion leader in nationally recognized Alzheimer’s prevention and treatment trials. He is the Editor in Chief of Neurology and Therapy and serves on the editorial board for the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and for Boston Medical Center Neurology. Notable publications include his two books on brain health and Alzheimer’s Disease and the article “Palliative Care for Advanced Alzheimer’s and Dementia: Guidelines and Standards for Evidence Based Care and Geriatric Neurology.”

As an author of the “Alzheimer’s disease drug development pipeline: 2020” published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, Dr. Sabbagh displays crucial insight into the opportunities for Cognoptix’ Sapphire II System in the upcoming early Alzheimer’s disease therapeutics market. Cognoptix’ Sapphire II System is a groundbreaking, transformational, point-of-care medical device that identifies early-stage AD by detecting β-amyloid in the lens of the eye. Sapphire II fills the large medical need for an early accurate diagnostic system that can greatly increase the accuracy of cognitive evaluation in an office setting with a device that provides the accuracy of the amyloid PET scan without the cost and time commitment, invasiveness, confinement and radiation of the PET scan. The amyloid PET scan is considered the gold standard for in-vivo Alzheimer’s diagnosis but is considered mostly a research tool due the drawbacks mentioned above. The Sapphire II system will greatly facilitate earlier AD diagnosis and help identify dementia patients as either Alzheimer’s patients (amyloid positive) or non-Alzheimer’s patients (amyloid negative) with cognitive loss due to other causes. The Sapphire II system thus will significantly enhance patients receive the correct diagnosis and therefore proper care. This proper diagnosis is even more important now with the emergence of b-amyloid targeting pharmaceuticals coming to market in the next few years.

“We need diagnostic tools in the doctor’s office that aid the detection of amyloid in the evaluation of patients suffering from cognitive decline,” said Sabbagh. “Amyloid is the hallmark of Alzheimer’s Disease and the earliest molecular biomarker. It is critically important to know the patient’s amyloid status in patients with cognitive decline who are looking to understand the cause of their memory impairment and to receive the proper diagnosis and treatment. The unmet medical need for accurate in-office diagnosis already exists in diagnostic testing for Alzheimer’s Disease and will increase when new treatments for Alzheimer’s Disease targeting amyloid removal come to market.”

“Cognoptix’s Sapphire II can achieve a true paradigm shift in aiding AD diagnosis by facilitating early and accurate amyloid detection for the over 20 million people currently experiencing signs of cognitive loss. This number while already large is expected to double by 2050,” says Dr. Wilke, President and CEO of Cognoptix.

For more: https://www.cognoptix.com 

Inquiries:  Wyatt Gordon, wyatt@cognoptix.com 

Cognoptix, Inc.
33 Boston Post Rd W, Suite 140
Marlborough, MA 01752

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