Welcome

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I could not ask for a better way to start the EPAD quarterly newsletter than with the recent announcement of EPAD’s chief investigator, Craig Ritchie, that Janssen has confirmed their intention to join the EPAD platform and start an intervention specific appendix (ISA) using the EPAD trial platform in the first half of 2020. This was the sole missing piece in what has thus far been a very successful project. Sure, we had our setbacks and unexpected developments, the important thing is that we never gave up. We always kept the bigger goal in mind, set aside our differences and collaboratively worked on designing a platform to develop drugs for Alzheimer’s disease faster than ever before… and now EPAD will finally be able to prove it can deliver on all the promises we made close to 5 years ago.

If that alone was not enough to make 2019 one of the most exciting EPAD years ever, I am also happy to announce that EPAD will formally request IMI to grant us a no-cost 6-month extension to the project, so we can make sure to deliver on the start of the first EPAD appendix within the official lifetime of the project.

And it does not end there. The last 6 months the EPAD sustainability work package (WP7) has made significant progress in making sure we can continue with EPAD2.0 as of July 2020. This will be one of the main topics to be shared and discussed at the upcoming EPAD General Assembly which will be organized and hosted by Prof. Frisoni and his team in Geneva from May 15-17. The registration for this years’ General Assembly will end very soon (deadline April 30), so if you have not done so already there is still time to register via this link.

We have been able to accomplish a lot over the last 4.5 years and I am confident we will continue to do so in the coming months. I would like to thank you all for your never-ending enthusiasm and dedication to the EPAD cause and look forward to the next 6-12 months as we prepare for the next leg of our EPAD journey.

This electronic newsletter will be published quarterly and be accessible via the EPAD website (https://alzheimer.noemi.lu/) and inform the Alzheimer’s community on EPAD’s main achievements, upcoming events as well as allow you to meet the scientists who make it all happen.

We hope you enjoy this issue of the EPAD newsletter! Happy Reading!

Take care and hope to see you in Geneva in a few weeks.

Serge Van der Geyten

EPAD Coordinator

Q1 2019 Highlights

EPAD makes the front cover of the Sunday Post

Professor Craig Ritchie, of the University of Edinburgh, is jointly leading the EPAD project, a Europe-wide collaboration aiming to improve the understanding of the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. EPAD combines knowledge and expertise from 39 European partner organisations across multiple sectors. Craig Ritchie and one of the EPAD study participants Eileen Penman have recently featured in national UK news to …

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Interview with Emma Law

What is your current role in EPAD? I am an active member of the Recruitment Core Team, which includes looking at how to increase recruitment by reaching out to sites where necessary and troubleshooting problems as they occur. I am also the country coordinator for Scotland's TDCs and I am an expert blinded rater for the CDR in all of the Scottish sites. …

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EPAD presents @

• The EPAD General Assembly Meeting will take place from 15 to 17 May in Geneva (Switzerland).

•  Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) will be held from 14 to 17 July in Los Angeles (US).