[AD/PD 2026] Neurophet targets imaging bottleneck as new Alzheimer's drug...

COPENHAGEN -- Lee Han-soo / Korea Biomedical Review correspondent --

Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis is shifting rapidly with the advent of anti-amyloid antibody treatments such as Leqembi (lecanemab) and Kinsula (donanemab).

While these therapies offer new hope, they are also straining clinical practice. Amyloid PET scans are required to confirm eligibility, and frequent MRI scans are needed to monitor amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA), creating bottlenecks in radiology departments.

At the International Conference on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases (AD/PD) 2026 in Copenhagen, Neurophet was the only Korean company to host a booth, showcasing AI-based brain imaging analysis solutions.

In practice, the treatments demand workflows that were not previously standard in dementia care, placing added pressure on radiology teams to track microhemorrhages and edema with precision.

Neurophet co-CEO Been Jun-kil shares insights on the shifting trends in Alzheimer's disease diagnosis and the company's global expansion strategy during an interview with Korea Biomedical Review on the sidelines of AD/PD 2026 in Copenhagen, Denmark, Friday.

"The communication issues between neurology or psychiatry staff and radiology staff arise because clinical departments have to accept new, unfamiliar information from reading reports," Neurophet co-CEO Been Jun-kil said during an interview with Korea Biomedical Review. “Neurophet's AQUA AD Plus solution aims to resolve the confusion by digitizing and automating the process, vastly improving accuracy and reading efficiency.”

To scientifically back its solutions, Neurophet presented two crucial posters.

The first poster detailed the deep learning-based segmentation of hemorrhagic lesions in ARIA and cerebral amyloid angiopathy. The second poster focused on a comparative study of MR-fusion and PET-only Centiloid analysis against the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative reference values.

According to the company, basic microhemorrhage detection accuracy by physicians jumps from about 87 to 89 percent to 95 percent with AI assistance. More crucially, the accuracy of meticulously counting individual lesions increases from 67 to 69 percent to 81 to 82 percent.

"When there are only four or five lesions, they are really hard to find, but our tool increases detection by almost 15 to 20 percent, which allows for ARIA to be managed quickly in a milder state,” Been said.

The Centiloid scale standardization is another major breakthrough.

The official calculation requires matching a patient's MRI with a PET scan. Neurophet's MR-fusion analysis matches the official formula with "99 percent" accuracy.

However, in cases where past MRI data is unavailable, Neurophet's PET-only analysis still achieves a 98 percent agreement. The technological flexibility ensures that medical staff can maintain consistent diagnostic standards across various medical settings and imaging devices.

Beyond technological advancements, the shift in Alzheimer's treatment is creating new market dynamics that are expected to drive significant revenue growth for Neurophet.

Because the new therapies require frequent MRI follow-ups, the demand for related imaging analysis software is expanding rapidly. The trend is already visible in neighboring markets like Japan, providing a crucial indicator for the company's sales projections of its AQUA AD solution.

"In Japan, the number of hospitals actually administering the treatment is three times the number of hospitals capable of performing amyloid PET scans,” Been said. “Korea is likely to follow a similar structure, with smaller clinics outsourcing imaging to specialized radiology centers, which will ultimately broaden the customer base for Neurophet's AI software.”

Despite the optimistic market structure, actual patient adoption in Korea remains in its infancy. The potential market is vast, with an estimated 1.5 million patients in the mild cognitive impairment or early Alzheimer's disease stages.

However, with less than 2,000 patients currently receiving the new treatments Been believes that the company is still in the early stages of market penetration.

“Our systems are currently deployed in about 30 to 50 hospitals, capturing less than 10 percent of its target,” he said.

Blood biomarkers emerge as complementary funnel rather than replacement for AI imaging

Despite the advancements in imaging, the AD/PD 2026 conference also highlighted a growing industry trend that initially seemed like a potential disruptor to the imaging market.

A major factor slowing down patient enrollment for new treatments is the prohibitive cost of initial diagnosis. The high cost of amyloid PET scans, which run about 1.5 million won ($998) in Korea and up to 10 million won overseas, has sparked immense interest in highly accurate blood-based biomarkers.

Throughout the conference, numerous presentations emphasized the potential of blood tests as a cost-effective initial screening method, raising industry-wide questions about whether the utility of expensive PET scans will diminish.

However, Neurophet views the rise of blood biomarkers not as a threat, but as a complementary mechanism that will ultimately drive more demand for precise imaging.

While blood tests are excellent for initial screening to filter out obvious non-Alzheimer's cases, they face significant limitations in real-world clinical settings.

"While blood tests are a very effective tool as a screening test, there are borderline cases, and the only thing that can overcome this situation is MRI,” he said.

He emphasized that blood tests cannot fully explain the underlying causes of brain lesions, making imaging indispensable for definitive treatment decisions.

“Also, the practical application of blood tests in everyday hospitals remains challenging,” he said. “While highly controlled research environments yield impressive accuracy, automating the blood tests with robotics in real-world clinical workflows often results in reproducibility issues.”

Therefore, Been stressed that many healthcare professionals still maintain that PET scans cannot be replaced once a patient moves into the actual treatment phase.

“Measuring amyloid reduction to evaluate drug efficacy is still universally reliant on Centiloid values derived from PET scans,” he said.

Rather than viewing the rise of blood biomarkers as a threat, Neurophet is actively harnessing their potential to enhance its own all-in-one diagnostic platform.

The company aims to provide a seamless, end-to-end solution spanning the entire Alzheimer's care cycle, effectively merging fluid biomarkers with advanced MRI analysis.

"If you look at the entire cycle from dementia diagnosis to treatment administration management, we are the only company equipped with all processes right now,” Been said.

The comprehensive one-platform approach covers everything from the very beginning of new drug development. By combining blood and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers with structural MRI data, Neurophet's platform can precisely screen target patients for global pharmaceutical clinical trials.

Once a drug is commercialized, the platform seamlessly transitions into clinical practice, providing Centiloid-based confirmation for prescription decisions and ultimately offering continuous ARIA monitoring and side effect diagnosis during drug administration.

The unified approach positions Neurophet as an indispensable partner for pharmaceutical companies and sets it far apart from global competitors, which primarily focus on isolated steps like stroke diagnosis.

Neurophet employees explain the company's AI-based brain imaging analysis platform to an attendee at their booth during the AD/PD 2026 held in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Strategic US expansion and domestic policy hurdles

To truly scale the business and capitalize on the surging global demand for Alzheimer's diagnostics, Neurophet is aggressively targeting the U.S., the world's largest healthcare market.

The strategic move comes at a pivotal time, as the U.S. market for disease-modifying therapies is expanding rapidly, bringing an unprecedented influx of patients requiring rigorous imaging and monitoring.

The company secured FDA clearance for AQUA AD in January and is currently executing a highly efficient market entry strategy that circumvents traditional regulatory bottlenecks. Because MRI scans for dementia patients are already widely covered by U.S. private insurance and Medicare, the three-dimensional lesion analysis performed by AQUA AD can utilize existing Current Procedural Terminology, or CPT, codes.

The advantage allows Neurophet to bypass the grueling, multi-year process of creating new reimbursement pathways, a hurdle that often stifles digital health startups.

By seamlessly integrating into the existing reimbursement framework, U.S. hospitals and specialized radiology groups can easily adopt the AI solution without facing new financial risks. To support the rapid commercial expansion and actively target the networks, Neurophet is currently increasing its U.S. team from three members to potentially 10.

While the global prospects look highly promising, the domestic regulatory environment in Korea still presents hurdles for the burgeoning industry.

The Korean government's recently announced fifth five-year comprehensive dementia management plan notably omitted frameworks for the active use and reimbursement of disease-modifying therapies.

The omission has caused significant frustration within the medical and industrial communities, as experts argue that Korea's rapidly aging population requires a swift transition from traditional welfare-centric dementia care to proactive, medical-based cures. Policymakers appear hesitant to integrate the new treatments into the national system due to their high costs, seemingly waiting for more conclusive real-world data regarding long-term cost-effectiveness and patient safety.

Despite the policy omission and the lack of immediate state support, Been views the widespread adoption of the treatments as an unstoppable force.

"Regardless of whether it is included in national policy, the shift is an inevitable trend. A method to treat the disease has finally emerged, and although it will take time for the new treatment to be used universally, there are more than enough patients who have waited far too long despite the high cost,” Been said. “Also, the shift toward early diagnosis will naturally present opportunities for us."

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Lee Han-soo