Prestigious R&D 100 Award recognizes Spear Bio’s innovation in ultra-sensitive measurement of brain-derived pTau 217 in plasma
WOBURN, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Spear Bio, a biotechnology company pioneering wash-free ultrasensitive immunoassay technology, today announced that its SPEAR UltraDetect™ BD-pTau 217 Assay has received a 2026 R&D 100 Award. Presented annually by R&D World, the awards recognize 100 of the year’s most technologically significant new products and advancements from organizations around the world.
For more than six decades, the R&D 100 Awards have recognized excellence in research and development across industry, academia, and government. The 2026 winners were selected from 149 finalists by a judging panel comprising more than 50 industry professionals from around the world.
Brain-derived pTau 217 represents a central nervous system-specific subset of circulating pTau 217 and is present at substantially lower concentrations than total plasma pTau 217, making reliable measurement, particularly in healthy individuals and early-stage populations, a significant analytical challenge.
The SPEAR UltraDetect™ BD-pTau 217 Assay addresses this challenge with a functional lower limit of quantification of 25 fg/mL while requiring just 1 µL of diluted plasma. Across the evaluated healthy-control and Alzheimer’s disease plasma samples, the assay achieved 100% quantifiability. In PET-confirmed research cohorts, BD-pTau 217 measurements demonstrated strong differentiation between amyloid-negative and amyloid-positive groups, illustrating how greater analytical sensitivity can translate into more informative biological insight.
“Brain-derived pTau 217 has historically been difficult to measure reliably because of the exceptionally low concentrations present in plasma,” said Feng Xuan, PhD, Founder and CEO of Spear Bio. “This award recognizes the technical ingenuity of our team in developing the most sensitive BD-pTau 217 assay with the lowest sample-volume requirement. By overcoming a fundamental measurement challenge, we are giving researchers access to brain-derived tau biology across a broader biological range and enabling new opportunities for early-stage, longitudinal, and therapeutic research in Alzheimer’s disease.”
“Breakthrough analytical performance alone is not enough, it has to be translated into a robust and reproducible product that researchers can use with confidence,” said Zidong Wang, COO of Spear Bio. “Bringing this assay to market required close collaboration across assay development, technology transfer, operations, quality, and manufacturing. This award recognizes both the scientific innovation behind BD-pTau 217 and the disciplined cross-functional execution required to translate that innovation into a high-performance research tool.”
The assay is powered by Successive Proximity Extension Amplification Reaction (SPEAR) technology. Its two-factor authentication mechanism and homogeneous, wash-free format enable sensitive and precise protein measurement without solid-surface capture or washing, with results read using standard qPCR instrumentation.
To learn more about the assay and review the supporting data, visit the SPEAR UltraDetect™ BD-pTau 217 Assay Kit product page: https://spear.bio/products/bd-ptau-217/
About Spear Bio
Spear Bio, founded in 2021 and headquartered in Woburn, Massachusetts, is a biotechnology company pioneering wash-free ultrasensitive immunoassay technology. Its SPEAR UltraDetect™ assay platform delivers attomolar sensitivity from 1 µL of diluted sample and superior specificity of a homogeneous, wash-free format with readout on standard qPCR instruments.
Built on an ultra-performance approach that integrates sensitivity, specificity, precision, and assay robustness, Spear Bio enables researchers and clinicians to reveal true biology with confidence. By combining exceptional analytical performance with simplified workflows and widely available laboratory infrastructure, the company is expanding access to high-quality protein biomarker insights and accelerating the translation of discoveries into clinical applications.
Contacts
Media Contact
Courtney Shirley
[email protected]
