Spear Bio Launches Ultrasensitive Assays to Advance Parkinson’s Disease Biomarker Testing

In March 2026, Spear Bio introduced three new ultrasensitive immunoassays that are specifically designed to advance blood-based biomarker testing for Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, and debuted the products at the International Conference on Alzheimer’s & Parkinson’s Diseases in Copenhagen.

The new SPEAR UltraDetect immunoassays target brain-derived phosphorylated tau 217 (BD-pTau 217), α-synuclein (α-syn), and phospho-Ser129-α-synuclein (pS129-α-syn) protein biomarkers associated with neurodegenerative proteinopathies. The product launches align with the company's establishment of direct-to-consumer operations in North America and Europe, based in Woburn, Massachusetts.

BD-pTau 217: Detecting Alzheimer’s at the Preclinical Stage

The SPEAR UltraDetect BD-pTau 217 Assay was first released to early adopters last month and is described by the company as the only brain-derived pTau 217 test to achieve 100% quantifiability in both healthy and diseased plasma samples. Operating in a homogeneous, wash-free format, the assay requires just 1 µL of diluted plasma, achieves a functional lower limit of quantification of 25 fg/mL, and an average intra-plate coefficient of variation of 5.7%.

According to the company, these performance characteristics enable investigators to detect Alzheimer’s disease-related tau changes at the preclinical stage while conserving sample volume for longitudinal studies, a critical consideration for researchers managing limited biobanked specimens.

“Our goal is to place the most sensitive protein biomarker tools in the hands of scientists tackling complex neurodegenerative diseases,” stated Feng Xuan, founder and chief executive officer of Spear Bio. “By expanding our assay portfolio and transitioning to direct customer engagement, we are empowering researchers to generate higher-quality data with greater efficiency, accelerating the path from discovery to clinical impact.”

According to Precedence Research, the parkinsons disease biomarkers market size was USD 1.35 billion in 2025 and is projected to increase from USD 1.54 billion in 2026 to approximately USD 4.88 billion by 2035, expanding at a CAGR of 13.80% from 2026 to 2035, driven by the growing need for early diagnosis, rising shift to blood-based diagnostics, increasing global cases of Parkinson's diseases, rapid advancements in alpha-synuclein assays, and increasing investments in clinical trials for disease-modifying therapies.