Study to Determine MR Brain Imaging Efficacy in Spotting Alzheimer’s Abnormalities

The first patients have been enrolled in a clinical trial designed to assess the clinical utility and workflow benefits of Hyperfine Inc.’s Swoop system images in identifying Alzheimer’s treatment-related abnormalities.

The CARE PMR (Capturing ARIA Risk Equitably with Portable MR) observational study will analyze magnetic resonance (MR) images acquired at infusion centers and clinics to help physicians detect amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA) in Alzheimer’s patients receiving amyloid-targeting therapy at the times specified in the labeling (before the fifth, seventh, and fourteenth infusions). Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia worldwide, affecting more than 6 million people in the United States alone.¹ Patients with Alzheimer’s can now be treated with amyloid-targeting therapy, which reduces the amyloid plaque burden in the brain. Potential side effects for patients using amyloid-targeting therapy exist, including ARIA, and patients are required to receive multiple MRI brain scans during their first year of treatment as included in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved labeling for the medication.
 
“We’ll be evaluating whether portable MR brain imaging can reliably identify brain swelling and bleeding, which have been associated with amyloid-targeting therapies,” said Dr. Tammie Benzinger, a radiology and neurological surgery professor with the Washington School of Medicine and primary investigator of CARE PMR. “This information can help determine whether portable MR imaging—offered at the same time as anti-amyloid infusions—could lessen the inconvenience for patients.”
 
Mass General Brigham has also begun scanning Alzheimer’s patients with the Swoop system to obtain longitudinal data as well as enroll patients in the CARE PMR protocol to screen for ARIA events. This work, led by Drs. Teresa Gomez-Isla and W. Taylor Kimberly, will evaluate the Swoop system to understand its potential role in the overall continuum of Alzheimer’s care.
 
“The newly approved amyloid-targeting therapy represents a major milestone in the global fight against Alzheimer’s, bringing hope of additional years of independent living to patients. The required MRI scans to image brain abnormalities in patients receiving amyloid-targeting therapy present workflow challenges for patients and providers,” Hyperfine President/CEO Maria Sainz said. “Patients can be safely scanned with the Swoop system wherever a healthcare setting is most convenient, and we believe that it greatly simplifies the workflow and provides significant benefits in care efficiency and cost. We look forward to investigating its potential as a screening tool and exploring how this accessible and affordable portable MRI modality can help address the challenges of access to care and equity challenges intrinsic to new treatments for this devastating global disease.”
 
The Swoop Portable MR Imaging system is cleared by the FDA and has been approved for brain imaging of patients of all ages. It is a portable, ultra-low-field magnetic resonance imaging device for producing images that display the internal structure of the head where full diagnostic examination is not clinically practical. When interpreted by a trained physician, these images provide information that can be useful in determining a diagnosis. The Swoop system also has CE certification in the European Union and UKCA certification in the United Kingdom. The Swoop system is commercially available in a select number of international markets.
 
Hyperfine Inc. is a health technology company that has redefined brain imaging with the Swoop system—the first FDA-cleared, portable, ultra-low-field, magnetic resonance brain imaging system capable of providing imaging at multiple points of care. Founded by Dr. Jonathan Rothberg in a technology-based incubator called 4Catalyzer, Hyperfine Inc. scientists, engineers, and physicists developed the Swoop system out of a passion for redefining brain imaging methodology and the ways in which clinicians can apply accessible diagnostic imaging to patient care. 
 
Hyperfine, Swoop, and Portable MR Imaging are registered trademarks of Hyperfine Inc.

Reference 
¹ Alzheimer’s disease facts and figures. Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia. (n.d.). https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/facts-figures#:~:text=More%20than%206%20million%20Americans%20of%20all%20ages%20have%20Alzheimer’s,are%20age%2075%20or%20older