The A4 Study was the first large-scale clinical trial testing an Alzheimer’s prevention strategy in the general population. It aimed to slow cognitive decline in older persons who were not cognitively impaired but had elevated amyloid levels and were thus at high risk for cognitive decline. The A4 Study tested whether solanezumab, an anti-amyloid drug, could slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease-related cognitive decline. 
 
Solanezumab did not slow cognitive decline as compared to placebo. Additional learnings from the trial will continue to be shared as future analyses are completed, including results from the companion study - LEARN. 

Read the published results of the A4 study in the New England Journal of Medicine. 
 
Background on the A4 Study 
The A4 Study is a landmark public-private partnership, funded by the National Institute on Aging (part of National Institutes of Health), Eli Lilly and Company, Alzheimer's Association, GHR Foundation, Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, and several other organizations and donors. The A4 Study is coordinated by the Alzheimer's Therapeutic Research Institute (ATRI) at the Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California and is a project of the Alzheimer's Clinical Trials Consortium (ACTC).

A recent article in The Wall Street Journal detailed the work of GHR partner C2N Diagnostics and the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, along with the groundbreaking research of C2N co-founder, Dr. Randall Bateman.

From The Wall Street Journal:

"The new Alzheimer’s blood tests, meanwhile, are meant to help determine if memory loss and brain aging are due to early stages of the disease. These tests, available with a doctor’s prescription, include one from lab giant Quest Diagnostics Inc. and one developed at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and licensed to C2N Diagnostics, a company founded by some researchers at the university. The tests have been shown to accurately assess whether amyloid plaques have started to accumulate in the brain based on the ratio of levels of two proteins in the blood. "

Read more.

An air of optimism marked the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) in San Diego last week, as over 9,000 scientists joined in-person and virtually to share research discoveries, connect with their peers and learn from others. Several presenters highlighted the exciting potential of recent scientific developments, considered almost impossible to conceive of five or ten years ago. Today, the scientific community can completely remove amyloid plaque in the brain as measured by PET scans – the buildup of which is considered a precursor to Alzheimer’s Disease. New blood biomarkers offer greater understanding and ability to detect disease, without the cost and invasiveness of alternative testing procedures. Finally, prevention therapy offers the potential to treat Alzheimer’s patients ten to twenty years before the onset of symptoms.

The Alzheimer’s Association is a valued partner in our shared journey to find a way to prevent Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias. Together, we have provided key philanthropic support to prevention trials in early onset families and in the general population. 
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You can review the news highlights from AAIC and press releases to learn more about the exciting discoveries shared at AAIC 2022.

GHR’s Health initiative partners with organizations using innovative trials to pursue the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease. One such trial is the Alzheimer’s Prevention Initiative (API) Generation Study which recently began enrollment in high-risk older adults to validate the use of genetic screening and identify an effective approach to prevent the disease.

Led by Dr. Eric Reiman and Dr. Pierre Tariot of Banner Alzheimer’s Institute (BAI), this pioneering multi-site prevention study is working to determine whether two investigational anti-amyloid compounds—an active immunotherapy and an oral medication—can prevent or delay the emergence of Alzheimer’s symptoms in people at a high genetic risk of developing the disease. The study will involve more than 1,300 cognitively healthy adults, age 60 to 75, who have inherited a copy of the e4 type of the apolipoprotein (APOE) gene from each parent. Roughly one in four people carry a single copy of the gene, which is strongly linked to late-onset Alzheimer’s.

The Generation Study is part of the API, an international collaborative led by BAI to accelerate the evaluation of promising treatments. The study is sponsored by Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis and Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based biotechnology company Amgen in collaboration with BAI, with funding from the National Institute on Aging—part of the National Institutes of Health—as well as GHR, Alzheimer’s Association, Fidelity Biosciences Research Institute and Banner Alzheimer’s Foundation.

To learn more about how GHR is joining forces with industry, other philanthropic partners and the United States National Institutes of Health on the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease, contact us.

GHR Foundation’s Health Initiative is joining forces with industry, other philanthropic partners and the United States National Institutes of Health on a game-changing undertaking—the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease. Recently, GHR Foundation was awarded the Jerome H. Stone Philanthropy Award for Alzheimer’s Research for its philanthropic efforts to support Alzheimer’s disease prevention research. The award was also presented to the MetLife Foundation, which works with experts to assist low-income individuals facing Alzheimer’s.

The recognition was presented at the Annual Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in memory of Alzheimer’s Association founder Jerome Stone, who passed away earlier this year. Fred Miller accepted the award on behalf of the Foundation at the opening plenary session, attended by more than 4,000 global researchers, donors and advocates. This year’s Alzheimer’s Conference also saw the release of promising new prevention research results.  To see a summary of news from the Conference, read the Alzheimer’s Association news release.

We are happy to accept this recognition as an innovative partner in the fight against Alzheimer’s. The Stone Award strengthens GHR’s credibility as we cultivate important public- and private-sector partners. To learn more about how GHR’s Health Initiative, contact us.

GHR Foundation is joining forces with philanthropic and industry partners to fund groundbreaking Alzheimer’s prevention research. One such partnership is the APOE trial, a prevention study that will launch by early 2016 and last five years. GHR has partnered with the Alzheimer’s Association and Fidelity Biosciences Research Initiative to provide $10 million in new research funding to support the study.

The API APOE4 trial, conducted by the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, is focused on how two new therapies may prevent or delay the development of Alzheimer’s symptoms in a population known to be at high risk for the disease because of their age and genetic status. The trial will test two different potential approaches to see if one or both can prevent the development of memory and thinking symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

The new funding will support three aspects of the API APOE4 trial, including the expansion of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Registry, the evaluation of two remote genetic counseling approaches and new scans including Tau PET imaging, amyloid PET imaging and FDG-PET imaging. If successful, the trial will not only to evaluate investigational prevention therapies, but will help find faster ways to evaluate promising prevention therapies in the future.

To learn more about how the Foundation is targeting funding to improve some of the largest research efforts in the field, contact us.

The journal Clinics in Geriatric Medicine recently published the results of GHR-funded physician outreach efforts by the Minnesota/North Dakota Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. Published as part of a larger article titled, “Developing Dementia-Capable Health Care Systems,” the piece highlights the importance of engaging community-based organizations like the Alzheimer’s Association in connecting patients with caregivers. 

The research shows how community-based organizations reinforce services commonly provided by social workers. These services range from providing information for physicians regarding caregiver education to referring community services. The Minnesota/North Dakota Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association was specifically highlighted, due to its newly-developed network of providers and clinics, which made an important step in establishing dementia-capable health care by increasing the occurrence of direct contact between patients and physicians.

GHR supports innovative new approaches to address the impact of Alzheimer’s disease.  Learn more about our grant making today.

GHR Foundation attended the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference. As an important platform to present research and trend information, the forum saw global news coverage on potential new diagnostics, findings related to lifestyle and international rates of prevalence. 

A Wall Street Journal piece covering the conference entitled “Alzheimer's Disease Fight Focuses on Preventive Treatment” reinforces GHR’s focus on funding effective prevention therapies. It notes that “greater ability to measure the progression of the disease in the brain through the use of biological markers, such as the imaging of disease-related proteins, has made it easier to detect the subtle and slow progression of the disease...”

To advance our Alzheimer’s strategy, GHR’s Alzheimer’s advisory council convened a strategic meeting at the conference to discuss the impact of research, potential collaboration and next steps. The Foundation is pleased to be partnering with so many public and private sectors leaders in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease.