As the Progress Report has shown, clinical trials are essential to continued progress in AD research. Clinical trials, which compare a potential new treatment with a standard treatment or with a placebo, are the primary way that researchers find out whether a promising treatment is safe and effective. Clinical trials also tell researchers which treatments are more effective than others. Some clinical trials focus on treatment strategies—helping people with AD preserve cognitive function for as long as possible, for example, or helping people with behavioral or psychiatric problems associated with AD. Other clinical trials focus on prevention strategies—using specific interventions or drugs to help people reduce the risk of developing AD in the future. Here’s a look at two critical aspects of clinical trials research.
ADCS Study Sites in 2006
In 1991, NIA launched the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study (ADCS; http://adcs.ucsd.edu), a consortium of research sites around the country. The ADCS conducts clinical trials on compounds that are not generally of interest to large pharmaceutical companies. These include drugs that are off patent, drugs that are patented and marketed for another use but may be useful in treating cognitive and behavioral symptoms of AD, and novel compounds from individual investigators or small companies without adequate resources for clinical trials. Currently, the ADCS is supporting five clinical trials.
The latest renewal of the ADCS in 2006 will support new clinical trials to test drugs for their effectiveness in slowing the progression or treating the symptoms of AD, as well as to investigate new methods for conducting dementia research. Most of the new trials will focus on possible therapies aimed at affecting beta-amyloid and tau:
One of the major limitations in conducting trials in older adults is recruiting and retaining individuals who can effectively participate in lengthy evaluations in a specialized clinic setting. Many older people, particularly the very elderly, have physical, social, and health limitations that make it difficult for them to take part in research. Thus, NIA AD investigators are examining ways to make it easier for volunteers to participate in clinical research, and they are developing novel procedures and measures that can be administered at home or in other community settings:
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