The Alzheimer’s Association International Conference took place in Toronto from 23 to 28 July. EPAD – funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) – featured in a number of key symposia and communications:

• At a joint pre-conference meeting of the Global Alzheimer’s Platform and EPAD on global Alzheimer’s research collaboration on 22 July, EPAD researchers Simon Lovestone (University of Oxford), Luc Truyen and Serge van der Geyten (Janssen), José Luis Molinuevo (Barcelonabeta Brain Research Center) and Andy Saitlin (Eisai) updated the audience on the progress of the EPAD project. Other inititiaves being developed in Australia, Canada, Japan and the US were also presented at this meeting.
• In a session dedicated to risk disclosure in the era of Alzheimer’s prevention studies, on 27 July, Krista Tromp from the Erasmus Medical Center presented the EPAD work and recommendations in this field.
• On the final day of the conference, Craig Ritchie presented EPAD in a session entitled “Speeding innovative medicines in need: The Global Alzheimer’s Platform”.

The focus on EPAD, prevention and global research collaboration did not go unnoticed and led to the following comment in a respected forum dedicated to dementia research: “The biggest story at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, held July 22-28 in Toronto, unfolded rather quietly. It took place in off-site or pre-meetings, and in a sparsely attended session on the last morning, when a majority of conventioneers had left. It is the story of how multiple powerful interests on either side of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans have coalesced to try to fundamentally reorganize the way clinical trials will be done on Alzheimer’s disease starting in the near future”.

For more information on the EPAD presentations and the project’s place in global research efforts, read here: http://www.alzforum.org/news/conference-coverage/coming-center-near-you-gap-and-epad-revamp-alzheimers-trials