Cumulus Neuroscience's digital test matches clinical benchmarks for Alzheimer's trial screening
Cumulus Neuroscience presented data showing its two-minute digital "Symbol Swap" task achieved or exceeded clinical benchmarks for distinguishing between control groups, individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and Alzheimer's disease patients.
London – Cumulus Neuroscience presented data at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) 2026 for its "Symbol Swap" digital cognitive task. The two-minute, tablet-based task demonstrated the ability to clinically differentiate between control groups, individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and Alzheimer's disease patients across three independent studies.
The "Symbol Swap" task matched or exceeded the performance of established cognitive screening tools such as ADAS-Cog, MoCA, and MMSE, which require significantly more time. The test also identified Alzheimer's disease pathology defined by biomarkers, including in individuals who were clinically normal on standard tests. This suggests "Symbol Swap" may help identify individuals likely to have positive amyloid or tau protein profiles.
According to Cumulus Neuroscience, the digital and automatically scored "Symbol Swap" is well-suited for large-scale, multi-site clinical trials, adaptable to both hospital and at-home settings. The company anticipates it can accelerate patient recruitment for Alzheimer's research and reduce screening failure rates. Data were presented from three studies: CNS-101, Fastball i4i, and the Global Alzheimer's Platform (GAP) BioHermes-002.
"It is striking that a two-minute task can match or exceed assessments that take 10-45 minutes to perform," said Brian Murphy, PhD, co-founder and chief scientific officer at Cumulus. He added that "Symbol Swap" could serve as an effective first-line filter. Lammert Albers, commercial director at GAP, noted that this approach could reduce recruitment timelines and participant selection costs.