Shimadzu Corporation has released the Amyloid MS CL system for measuring amyloid peptides in blood. This “controlled medical device” (Class II) is available in Japan. The product received manufacturing and sales approval from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in December 2020.

The Amyloid MS CL system measures the amount of amyloid peptides in blood and indicates a value for a biomarker associated with amyloid-β. Amyloid peptides are a key component in amyloid plaques that characterize Alzheimer’s dementia and amyloid-β is a type of protein that is considered a potential cause of Alzheimer’s.

The system comprises a Shimadzu AXIMA Performance CL matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometer, data analysis software, and other items. Unlike positron emission tomography (PET) imaging systems and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) testing methods, the Amyloid MS CL system reduces patient burden by only requiring a small quantity of blood for testing.