US approves first Alzheimer’s blood test

The US Food and Drug Administration approved the first blood test to help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, a move that could make it easier to detect the condition early in some people.

The test, developed by a Japanese biotech company, looks for proteins in the blood that can indicate the presence of amyloid plaques in the brain — a key hallmark of Alzheimer’s.

The blood test can’t definitively diagnose the disease, for which there is also no cure.

Rather, experts said the test can help screen adults aged 55 and older who are at risk of Alzheimer’s, which could speed their path to diagnosis and treatment before the onset of symptoms, including severe memory loss.