In France, between 650,000 and 1.6 million people suffer from bipolar disorder. This psychiatric disease is characterized (among other things) by the alternation of depressive phases and manic phases: it is in particular supported with the help of mood-regulating drugs.
Currently, people with bipolarity have to wait about 7 years to be diagnosed. A colossal medical error insofar as bipolar patients have (on average) a reduced life expectancy of 10 years and an increased risk of suicide of 20%.
Precisely: to speed things up a bit, the French company Alcediag has developed a blood test that would not only be able to diagnose bipolar disorder, but also to make the difference between this pathology and depression, with which it is frequently confused.
A test that could be available as early as 2023
“Thanks to advances in biology and artificial intelligence, we have demonstrated that there are characteristic RNA editing changes in the brains of depressed people. We then identified specific biomarkers in their bloodexplained the co-founder of the company to our colleagues from Ouest France. When the brain malfunctions, it sends signals through the body, like a diseased kidney or liver.“
The test, called Edit-B, was the subject of a scientific study in May 2022: it emerged that its specificity (i.e. its ability to exclude non-sick people) was 80%, and its sensitivity (that is, its ability to detect sick people) was 90%. Promising!
The Edit-B test should be marketed in early 2023 in Italy and Switzerland. A validation study will soon be launched: it will involve 436 patients followed in expert centers in Barcelona, Copenhagen and Paris, and will last two years.
Source :West France
