Rhode Island Hospital seeks participants in worldwide Alzheimer’s study

PROVIDENCE A clinical trial for a treatment that may help prevent early memory loss related to Alzheimer’s disease is now underway at Rhode Island Hospital. 

The AHEAD study investigates whether a treatment known as BAN2401 effectively removes a type of protein associated with Alzheimer’s from the brains of people 55 or over who are at risk of developing the disease. 

The first infusion at Rhode Island Hospital took place in mid-April, and more participants are being sought for the worldwide study, which aims to enroll 1,165 people in North America. 

Retired special education teacher Pat Giarusso was the first participant at RIH. 

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“I believe helping research is very important,” Giarusso said. “Hopefully one day being treated for brain disorders will be as common as routine treatments for other diseases.”

Participants receive one of two courses of treatment, based on the level of plaque buildup in their brains. 

“The tailored approach of this study, starting treatment years before memory loss has begun, has the potential to be a breakthrough in our aim to prevent Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. Jonathan Drake, associate director of the Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders Center at Rhode Island Hospital. “It can potentially serve as a model to improve clinical trials in Alzheimer’s research and other diseases.”

The AHEAD Study is led by University of Southern California’s Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute, the Alzheimer’s Clinical Trials Consortium at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

For more information about the study, visit AHEADstudy.org.

Elizabeth Graham is a PBN contributing writer.