Alzheimer's Association Stimulates Cooperation That Advances Alzheimer's Disease Prevention Research

And yet our fucking stroke associations can't seem to accomplish anything even remotely useful to survivors.  NO strategy and no protocols means allowing survivors not to be able to make the best recovery.

ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION STIMULATES COOPERATION THAT ADVANCES ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE PREVENTION RESEARCH

The future success of Alzheimer's prevention research could depend on the ability of researchers from different clinical trials to build collaborative relationships that facilitate the sharing of information, resources and expertise that may speed the discovery of new preventive treatments, according to leading Alzheimer's researchers who published, "CAP—advancing the evaluation of preclinical Alzheimer disease treatments," online today in the journal Nature Reviews Neurology.

The Collaboration for Alzheimer's Prevention (CAP) was formed in 2011, under the leadership of the Alzheimer's Association and Fidelity Biosciences Research Initiative (FBRI). CAP's goals from the beginning were to help researchers learn from and support each other's work; share data; harmonize data gathering and trial outcomes to allow for comparability across studies; and hold open, informal dialogue with regulators.

The founding members of CAP include representatives from the Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer's Disease (A4) Study, Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network Trials Unit (DIAN-TU), Alzheimer's Prevention Initiative (API), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the Alzheimer's Association and FBRI. (Note: The Association provided key funding to the A4, DIAN TU and API trials.) Researchers from the TOMMORROW Trial later joined CAP, bringing the perspective of a study that is funded by industry.

CAP has contributed to the refinement of six Alzheimer's prevention trials – four that have launched and two that will start soon. CAP aims for researchers to provide assistance to each other in the development of trial outcomes, standardization of sample and data collection, and recruitment and retention of study participants. All CAP investigators are working with their respective academic and industry partners to enable an unprecedented level of data sharing, including in some cases not only sharing upon completion of the trial, but also the sharing of baseline data as early as the conclusion of enrollment in a given trial.

With more than 5 million Americans currently living with Alzheimer's disease and that number projected to climb to between 13 and 16 million by 2050, it is more critical than ever to find faster methods to evaluate promising Alzheimer's treatments and preventions, and develop new avenues for researchers to share insights and experiences.

Alzheimer's Association Involvement

The Alzheimer's Association joined with FBRI in 2011 to convene representatives from the Alzheimer's disease prevention trials in the Collaboration for Alzheimer's Prevention (CAP). The alliance planned to tap into a spirit of collaboration among these researchers that would make a positive impact on the clinical trials process. It was apparent from early conversations that all the prevention trials, and the Alzheimer's research field, would benefit from ongoing conversation and coordination among the scientists, and with the regulatory agencies. Before CAP, researchers had one-off conversations and conducted trials in ways that created unnecessary overlap, and did not allow for easy comparison amongst the studies. This collaboration aligns everyone's work where it makes most sense and provides the greatest benefit to the entire Alzheimer's research community.