Brigham and Women’s Hospital is looking to recruit participants for Alzheimer’s clinical trial

Brigham and Women’s Hospital is looking for local residents, specifically people of color, to participate in an international study of Alzheimer’s disease.

The AHEAD study is testing whether the use of steady medication before symptoms appear can help prevent mental decline in people at-risk for Alzheimer’s.

Study participant Dave Kalberer’s parents both had Alzheimer’s. His mother passed away at 72 and his father has been dealing with the illness for 13 years.

“I have that unusual opportunity to be working with the doctors that are on the forefront of the research. They are giving me something that might let me hang on to my memories for much longer,” he said in the study’s recruitment video posted in December 2021.

The clinical trial is specifically targeting the build up of a protein called amyloid in the brain, according to their website. This protein is often found built up in the brains of people who go on to develop Alzheimer’s disease.

An “investigational treatment” called BAN2401 will be administered to participants in the trial through intravenous infusions. The frequency of the dosage will depend on the amount of amyloid found in their brains in screening PET scans.

“We know it removes amyloid from the brain,” said Dr. Seth Gale in interview with WCVB. “We’re trying to see if you do that early, we can demonstrate that changes of thinking and memory are different than the placebo arm of the study.”

Researchers are looking for about 15% of the study to be made up of people of color, but so far the number of Black participants is only at around 5%.

“We know that Alzheimer’s disease disproportionately affects communities of color and if we don’t participate in these types of trials, we run the risk of a cure coming along that is not a treatment for us,” said Dr. Karen Bell, a neurologist and professor of neurology at Columbia University Medical Center.

Gale, who runs the testing site at Brigham and Women’s hospital said finding diversity in clinical trials is an ongoing challenge for the AHEAD Study but also clinical trials nationally.

The study hopes to recruit about 1,400 people, according to Brigham and Women’s Hospital neurologist Dr. Hyun-Sik Yang. But recruiting 1,400 people means screening over 8,000.

In order to be eligible for the study, prospective participants must be ages 55-80, have no previous Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia diagnosis, have a study partner who will participate in one “study visit” each year, and have an elevated or intermediate level of amyloid found in their brain in screening.

The study is being conducted by the Alzheimer’s Clinical Trial Consortium and there are approximately 100 study locations worldwide.

If any local residents meet the requirements and would like to be screened to participate, more information on how is available here.

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