Joint funding from the National Institute on Aging, from private organization, and Federal Agencies will fund research new research. They will be asking 800 people over 50 sites in the United States and Canada, to let clinicians evaluate brain imaging techniques and biological markers for changes in the brain.
The five year public-private partnership, the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), will to test whether serial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET), other biological markers, and clinical and neuropsychological assessment can be used to measure the progression of mild cognitive impairment, i.e. mild memory loss mild memory loss and early Alzheimer’s disease.
It is hoped the study could help researchers and clinicians develop treatments that can help delay or prevent Alzheimer’s disease. They hope to identify the people at highest risk of Alzheimer's disease and test the effectiveness of new therapies more quickly and efficiently. It is hoped that that by pooling so much talent and information it will lessen the cost of clinical trials .
Using neuroimaging techniques such as PET and MRI scans scientists will be able to track the progress and changes in the brain that we know can occur in Alzheimer's such as shrinkage in the hippocampus and the rate of glucose metabolism in parts of it. It should contribute to a more consistent measure of changes even before subjects show symptoms.
Funding Sources
The funding is expected to be two thirds from Federal Government and one third from private corporations. The government agencies are the National institute of aging (NIA), the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), the Food and Drug Administration.
Private companies and organizations committing $20 million are the Institute for the Study of Aging (ISOA), and the Alzheimer’s Association, Pfizer Inc, Wyeth Research, Eli Lilly and Company, Merck & Co., Inc., GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca AB, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Eisai Global Clinical Development, Elan Corporation, plc,.
Participants will begin being recruited in April 2005. The 800 participants will have to be aged between 55 and 90 years old. 200 will be older and cognitively normal who will be followed up for 3 years. 400 participants will have mild cognitive impairment and will also be followed up for 3 years. The remaining 200 people will be followed for 2 years and will have to be already displaying early signs of Alzheimer's disease. As well as undergoing regular cognitive testing participants will have to have brain images taken at regular intervals. They will also give samples of blood, urine and cerebral-spinal fluid.
