Nestle signs deal with biotech firm to develop Alzheimer’s test

Food group Nestle has taken a further step into the medicine business by signing a research collaboration agreement with a Swiss biotech company to develop an Alzheimer’s disease diagnostic test.

Biotech firm AC Immune, which already has established ties with Roche in drug research, said on Wednesday it would develop a minimally invasive diagnostic assay for Tau with the Nestle Institute of Health Sciences. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Tau is a protein that causes tangles in the brain that are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s.

Nestle, the world’s biggest packaged food company, announced last week it had signed a separate deal to develop a new treatment for ulcerative colitis.

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Susan Fenton)