ALCEDIAG develops EDIT–B, its first product, a blood-based diagnostic test for bipolar disorder. Our mission is to provide a rapid, accurate and objective biological tool that will assist the physicians in the process of diagnosing bipolar disorder and of differentiating patients with bipolar disorder from patients with depression.

Diagnosing bipolar disorder today

Diagnosing bipolar disorder is a complex process that can lead to long diagnostic wandering. The reasons are many and include the complexity of the disease, the difficulty to differentiate symptoms of bipolar disorder from symptoms of other mental illnesses and the lack of objective tools.

The consequences for patients are serious, they include: exacerbation of the disease, panic attacks, higher risk of suicide, addictions, compulsive behaviours, numerous comorbidities, decreased quality of life.

EDIT–B, a blood test for bipolar disorder

EDIT–B is a blood test, designed by ALCEDIAG to assist the physicians in the process of diagnosing bipolar disorder. The test provides biological, objective and rapidly available data. The objective is to diagnose bipolar disorder and to differentiate patients with bipolar disorder from depressed patients. EDIT–B has been tested in large scale clinical studies involving more than 600 patients, with an accuracy of over 80%.

EDIT–B represents a major innovation for patients and physicians. For physicians, EDIT–B will be the first objective, biological and highly accurate tool to assist them in their diagnosis. It will enable them to optimize the therapeutic decision, that today is plagued by the difficulty to establish a certain diagnosis. For patients, the benefits of the timely and accurate diagnosis and of the subsequent therapeutic strategy are many:

• It prevents years of uncertainty and suffering for patients and those close to them
• It improves the outcome of treatments, as response rate is higher in the first five years of the disease
• It helps prevent comorbidities: anxiety disorder, addictions, but also obesity, diabetes, hypertension, etc.
• It helps improve long term quality of life as it allows patients to maintain a « normal » life trajectory including studying, getting degrees and building social lives.

EDIT-B are being conducted with the support of EIT Health with the EDIT-B project. The project includes the development of a kit, a multicentric clinical trials as well as communication, market access and knowledge dissemination actions. The consortium includes:

• ALCEDIAG (Project Leader)
• Hospítal Clinic de Barcelona and Fundació Clínic per a la Recerca Biomèdica
• GHU Paris Psychiatry et Neurosciences
• Capital Region of Denmark
• Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu and Funcació Sant Joan de Déu
• ProductLife Group
• Synlab Italy

The EDIT-B Project has a total budget of 5.2 M € and is co-funded by EIT Health (2.5 M €) and its partners. The project duration is three years. For more information please visit our project website: www.editb-project.com

EDIT-B is now CE marked and will soon be available for patients and physicians. EDIT-B is already available for Research Use.

Other developments

In addition to its work on bipolar disorder, ALCEDIAG is conducting research on depression and schizophrenia and will develop the corresponding diagnostic tests. 

For more information about our latest results and R&D process, please contact us