Alamar Biosciences announces first multiplexed blood-based immunoassay for eMTBR-Tau
Alamar Biosciences, Inc. has launched the first commercial eMTBR-Tau immunoassay, now available in the NULISAseq Neuro 220 multiplexed panel kits, immediately deployable on the entire installed base of ARGO HT instruments, and as a single-plex assay through the company’s Technology Access Program (TAP).
The assay measures eMTBR-Tau, a plasma biomarker that specifically reflects tau tangle pathology and has demonstrated strong associations with cognitive decline, clinical disease staging, and therapeutic response monitoring for Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
A definitive diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease requires evidence of two hallmark pathologies: amyloid plaques and tau neurofibrillary tangles. Until recently, only one of these could be measured in blood: pTau-217, which serves as an indicator of amyloid pathology. However, a positive pTau-217 result alone is insufficient for a confirmatory diagnosis, as many individuals with amyloid accumulation have not yet developed tau tangles. Historically, measuring tau tangle burden required tau PET imaging, a method that is accurate but expensive and operationally complex.
Recent studies have shown that a blood-based eMTBR-tau243 assay, based on mass spectrometry, correlates strongly with tau tangle burden, making it a promising blood-based surrogate for tau PET imaging. Alamar’s NULISA platform delivers a broadly accessible eMTBR-Tau assay that specifically targets the MTBR fragment that is generated by endogenous cleavage at site 256. The highly scalable assay measures eMTBR-Tau at attomolar sensitivity, multiplexed with other key neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation biomarkers from a single low volume sample. Beyond diagnosis, the close association between eMTBR-Tau levels and tau tangle burden may allow researchers to directly measure biological response to tau-targeted therapies and address a critical unmet need for a blood-based biomarker of treatment efficacy.
Alamar will showcase eMTBR-Tau data at its workshop at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) 2026 in London on Tuesday, July 14, where researchers will present performance results and clinical findings from studies using the NULISA platform. The workshop will include presentations covering the assay’s analytical performance, correlation with tau PET imaging, and the ability to stratify patients across AD stages.
