Digital Symbol Task Challenges Alzheimer’s Diagnostic Benchmarks

The Symbol Swap task, part of the NeuLogiq platform, demonstrated high accuracy across three independent studies, including the multi-site BioHermes-002 trial. By measuring executive function, the digital tool differentiates between cognitively healthy individuals, those with mild cognitive impairment, and patients with Alzheimer's dementia. It shows notable sensitivity to blood-based pTau-217 biomarkers, even in asymptomatic individuals who might otherwise pass standard cognitive screeners.

Brian Murphy, co-founder of Cumulus, noted that the task captures pathology that traditional assessments—requiring 10 to 45 minutes of clinical time—often miss. By automating the screening process, the platform aims to reduce high screen-failure rates that currently delay drug development. Further data from the CNS-101 study, presented by Dr. James Rowe of the University of Cambridge, suggests that integrating such multi-domain digital endpoints and EEG measures can maintain patient tolerance while enabling smaller, more cost-effective clinical trials.