The Urgent and Global Need for Democratized Blood-Based Biomarker Diagnostics in Alzheimer’s Disease

Steven Quinn

doi:10.1016/j.premed.2025.100002

The Urgent and Global Need for Democratized Blood-Based Biomarker Diagnostics in Alzheimer’s Disease

Steven Quinn^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Physics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Editorial › peer-review

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) represents one of the most pressing healthcare challenges of the 21st century. As a leading cause of dementia, AD impacts over 55 million people worldwide, with this number projected to exceed 139 million by 2050. The economic burden is staggering, with global costs estimated to reach over $15 trillion, placing immense strain on healthcare systems, patients and caregivers1,2. Despite significant recent progress in understanding the molecular pathology of AD, and in the development of emerging treatments3, 4, access to timely and widespread diagnosis remains a formidable challenge. As a result, many patients are only identified late in the disease course when symptoms are pronounced and neurodegeneration is progressive. This underscores the urgent need for more easily accessible diagnostic tools — particularly those based on blood-based biomarkers — that can facilitate early-stage AD diagnosis, and crucially, enable targeted medical interventions in an accessible and cost-effective way.

Original language	English
Journal	The Journal of Precision Medicine: Health and Disease
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.premed.2025.100002
Publication status	Accepted/In press - 17 Mar 2025

Bibliographical note

Access to Document

10.1016/j.premed.2025.100002Licence: CC BY

SteveQuinn
© 2025 The Author
Accepted author manuscript, 883 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "The Urgent and Global Need for Democratized Blood-Based Biomarker Diagnostics in Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s Disease",

abstract = "Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease (AD) represents one of the most pressing healthcare challenges of the 21st century. As a leading cause of dementia, AD impacts over 55 million people worldwide, with this number projected to exceed 139 million by 2050. The economic burden is staggering, with global costs estimated to reach over $15 trillion, placing immense strain on healthcare systems, patients and caregivers1,2. Despite significant recent progress in understanding the molecular pathology of AD, and in the development of emerging treatments3, 4, access to timely and widespread diagnosis remains a formidable challenge. As a result, many patients are only identified late in the disease course when symptoms are pronounced and neurodegeneration is progressive. This underscores the urgent need for more easily accessible diagnostic tools — particularly those based on blood-based biomarkers — that can facilitate early-stage AD diagnosis, and crucially, enable targeted medical interventions in an accessible and cost-effective way.",

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AU - Quinn, Steven

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N2 - Alzheimer’s disease (AD) represents one of the most pressing healthcare challenges of the 21st century. As a leading cause of dementia, AD impacts over 55 million people worldwide, with this number projected to exceed 139 million by 2050. The economic burden is staggering, with global costs estimated to reach over $15 trillion, placing immense strain on healthcare systems, patients and caregivers1,2. Despite significant recent progress in understanding the molecular pathology of AD, and in the development of emerging treatments3, 4, access to timely and widespread diagnosis remains a formidable challenge. As a result, many patients are only identified late in the disease course when symptoms are pronounced and neurodegeneration is progressive. This underscores the urgent need for more easily accessible diagnostic tools — particularly those based on blood-based biomarkers — that can facilitate early-stage AD diagnosis, and crucially, enable targeted medical interventions in an accessible and cost-effective way.

AB - Alzheimer’s disease (AD) represents one of the most pressing healthcare challenges of the 21st century. As a leading cause of dementia, AD impacts over 55 million people worldwide, with this number projected to exceed 139 million by 2050. The economic burden is staggering, with global costs estimated to reach over $15 trillion, placing immense strain on healthcare systems, patients and caregivers1,2. Despite significant recent progress in understanding the molecular pathology of AD, and in the development of emerging treatments3, 4, access to timely and widespread diagnosis remains a formidable challenge. As a result, many patients are only identified late in the disease course when symptoms are pronounced and neurodegeneration is progressive. This underscores the urgent need for more easily accessible diagnostic tools — particularly those based on blood-based biomarkers — that can facilitate early-stage AD diagnosis, and crucially, enable targeted medical interventions in an accessible and cost-effective way.

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DO - 10.1016/j.premed.2025.100002

M3 - Editorial

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JO - The Journal of Precision Medicine: Health and Disease

JF - The Journal of Precision Medicine: Health and Disease

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