Leading industrialists and universities to fight Alzheimer’s dementia
The members of the European Prevention of Alzheimer’s Dementia (EPAD) Initiative have announced the start of a collaboration between academics and the private sector to test innovative treatments for the prevention of Alzheimer’s dementia.
The goal of the initiative is the prevention of dementia in people with evidence of the disease (such as biomarker abnormalities as identified by specific tests), who still may have little or no complaints or clinical symptoms. The realisation that Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive disorder and that early intervention may be more effective has led to research efforts being focused on prevention.
Making the announcement, Professor Craig Ritchie, an EPAD co-ordinator and professor of the psychiatry of ageing at the University of Edinburgh, said: “EPAD is part of a global initiative that will make a fundamental difference to the understanding and management of Alzheimer’s disease in people with very early or no symptoms at all. This could be a game changer. It is only possible because of the absolute commitment of academics, industry, policy makers and the public to work hand in hand to defeat this global threat.”
New tools and methods now allow the identification of patients in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, creating an opportunity to have new treatment options investigated in clinical studies early on. However, difficulties remain with the large number of patients and study sites needed to confirm a therapeutic effect within a limited span of time. EPAD aims to develop a platform using existing information from national or regional patient cohorts or register studies, which have already identified potential patients. EPAD will facilitated the undertaking of adaptive, multi-arm proof of concept studies for early and accurate decisions on the on-going development of drug candidates or drug combinations.
All data collected from the cohort and trial will become publicly available for analysis to improve disease models in the pre-dementia phase of Alzheimer’s disease.
