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Today, our new sister project Amyloid imaging to prevent Alzheimer’s disease (AMYPAD) announces the launch of its novel research initiative, bringing together academic and private research partners to investigate the value of β-amyloid using positron emission tomography (PET) imaging as a diagnostic and therapeutic marker for Alzheimer’s dementia.

Beta-amyloid (β-amyloid) deposition in the brain is one of the neuropathological hallmarks on the path towards development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The recent advent of commercially available β-amyloid PET tracers has opened up new potential for the visualisation of brain β-amyloid in vivo. It may improve an early diagnosis of AD, and, when recognised in a pre-symptomatic population, even provide an opportunity for secondary prevention of AD. However, the full value of this relatively novel technology and its optimal position in the diagnostic workup of patients is not yet fully understood.

“The AMYPAD Consortium brings together a world-class team of highly synergistic partners from across Europe to form a pan- European network including the most active PET sites. This will ensure effective access to patients and also maximise exposure to technical knowledge and disease modelling. This is a game-changing step in establishing the value of β-amyloid PET imaging in clinical practice”, said Prof Frederik Barkhof, AMYPAD Project Coordinator and Professor of Neuroradiology at VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam and at University College London.

Understanding the value of imaging of β-amyloid using PET provides a unique opportunity to achieve 3 major goals: 1) improve the diagnostic workup of people suspected to have AD and their management; 2) understand the natural history of AD in the pre-symptomatic stage; 3) select people for treatment trials aiming at preventing AD by ensuring a more homogeneous and appropriate enrolment. Through engagement with regulators, the AMYPAD consortium will maximise the value of its findings for pharmaceutical companies, healthcare providers, and patients.

AMYPAD will determine in a real-life clinical setting for whom diagnostic β-amyloid imaging is appropriate, when this is best performed and how the resulting information is influencing diagnostic certainty, patient management and ultimately decision trees and cost-effectiveness of dementia care.

“The development of β-amyloid imaging has been a tremendous research success which allows a more accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and a better selection of research participants for ongoing clinical trials. The AMYPAD project will provide much-needed information on the best place of this new technology in everyday clinical practice. Thanks to projects like these, we hope to get closer to our aim of ensuring a timely and accurate diagnosis for all patients”, said Jean Georges, Executive Director of Alzheimer Europe.

AMYPAD will address the above goals in close collaboration with our EPAD project.

“AMYPAD will apply amyloid PET on an unprecedented scale to patients who are suspected to be in the early stages of AD and generate the knowledge to fully integrate PET β-amyloid markers into current clinical practice in a cost-efficient way, by demonstrating its diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic value from a multi-stakeholder perspective.”, said Dr Gill Farrar, AMYPAD Project leader and Scientific Director at GE Healthcare Life Sciences.

AMYPAD is mainly sponsored by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and the European pharmaceutical industry (via EFPIA) under the auspices of the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking.

For more information, contact info@amypad.eu, check out www.amypad.eu or follow @IMI_AMYPAD on Twitter.

AMYPAD is a European project to establish the true value of amyloid PET in a diagnostic and prognostic setting (http://www.amypad.eu/). This 5-year project is a collaboration between industry (GEHC, Piramal, Janssen, Ixico) and academic partners funded by the IMI-2 program (total budget 27 million euro). Throughout Europe we will recruit 900 memory clinic patients and 3100 preclinical or prodromal AD subjects from natural history cohorts. Up to 50% of subjects will undergo dynamic scanning and have repeat imaging, for a total of 6000 amyloid PET scans. Main study goals include 1) diagnostic impact including patient-reported outcomes and healthcare resource utilization, 2) prognostic value and enrichment of treatment trials, and 3) quantitative assessment of treatment effects.

In close collaboration with EPAD (www.ep-ad.org), the cohorts will be followed with careful longitudinal monitoring and MRI to determine (surrogate) outcomes of cognitive decline and neurodegeneration. Led by VUmc, the consortium brings together a word-class team of highly synergistic partners to form a pan- European network including the most active PET sites. This will ensure effective access to patients and also maximise exposure to technical knowledge and disease modelling. In addition, AMYPAD will develop expertise in image data collection, including β-amyloid PET and MRI data from the EPAD project.

Interested to read more on how you can join? We are currently looking for a (senior) postdoc that will help develop and implement the AMYPAD project in close collaboration with the project leader spanning from research to implementation.

https://www.werkenbijvumc.nl/vacatures/postdoc-amypad-project-amyloid-imaging-to-prevent-alzheimers-disease/

https://www.researchgate.net/job/876540_Postdoc_AMYPAD_project-Amyloid_Imaging_to_Prevent_Alzheimers_Disease

What is your current role in EPAD?

I am one of the leaders of Work package 2 as well as a steering committee member. Work package 2 is responsible for creation of the disease models and adaptive design platform trial. In addition, I contributed to the development of proof of concept protocol with work package 4. This collaboration is multi-level and extends to almost all the work packages on development of regulatory strategy, on the endpoints/biomarkers for the POC trial, on data base development etc.

What did you do prior to joining EPAD?

I am a global head of Biostatistics and project operations of Neurology Business group at Eisai responsible for statistical methods, supporting regulatory and clinical development strategies, and operational aspects of all global drug development projects. I have been working in the Pharmaceutical Industry for more than twenty years. I started my career at Searle/Pharmacia and then worked at Astellas for ten years before joining Eisai in 2012 as the head of Biostatistics. Utilizing innovative statistical designs to increase efficiency of clinical trials and thus speed up the availability of new medicines to patients is my passion. I have worked on five Bayesian adaptive design clinical trials and thus understand the scientific, operational, business and regulatory challenges. Two of these Bayesian adaptive design trials are currently ongoing at Eisai and one is completed.

Tell us a bit about your organisation.

Eisai is a fully integrated pharmaceutical business that operates in two global business groups: oncology and neurology (dementia-related diseases and neurodegenerative diseases). Each group functions as an end-to-end global business with discovery, development, manufacturing and marketing capabilities.  We have a passionate commitment to patient care that is the driving force behind our efforts to discover and develop innovative therapies to help address unmet medical needs. Eisai is the first company to utilize Bayesian adaptive design in an Alzheimers clinical trial. That’s why it is a natural extension for Eisai to be part of EPAD family.

What are your expectations from the EPAD project?

Many of the pharma companies in the Alzheimers dementia area have been starting large phase 3 clinical trials without first performing adequate proof of concept trials. EPAD is a unique opportunity for companies in this space to test their drugs on the EPAD platform before embarking on large phase 3 trials. It utilizes the Bayesian adaptive design allowing for sharing of placebos across the drugs thus maximizing the probability of success. One of the major challenges for clinical trials in early dementia has been the ability to find the right patients, with the screen failure rates as high as 75% to 85%. It will be an even bigger challenge to find the pre-dementia study volunteers. I am excited about the longitudinal cohort study that would deliver 6000 research participants at any given time.  I think this collaboration across different work packages with experts in every field working together to address prevention of dementia will be a standard model for other difficult disease areas.

What is your current role in EPAD?

With Adrian Mander, I lead the Disease Modelling Workstream in WP2 (Statistical/Methodology Engine Room). Our principal task is to analyse, on an on-going basis, data arising from the EPAD Longitudinal Cohort Study and the EPAD Proof of Concept Trial in order to refine disease models across the EPAD risk spectrum. Our models will help improve understanding of the natural history of Alzheimer’s disease over the entire disease course and improve selection into the EPAD Proof of Concept Trial. I am also part of the EPAD Balancing Committee that is responsible for developing the parent cohort and occasion-specific selection algorithms for participant recruitment into the EPAD Longitudinal Cohort.

What did you do prior to joining EPAD?

Over the last few years, I have been heading up a programme of statistical research into stratified (or precision) medicine and the analysis of complex phenotypes within the MRC Biostatistics Unit in Cambridge. Besides the percentage of my time spent on EPAD, I am involved in a number of other projects, both methodological and applied. Methodologically, I am interested in developing statistical methods which will allow stratification of populations into more homogeneous subgroups based on response to treatment, level of risk, prognosis, mechanism, etc. with the ultimate goal of improving individuals’ health by the targeting of therapies and optimising decision making at appropriate times according to characteristics shared by these subgroups of individuals. Much of my statistical methodological work has been motivated by my involvement in a number of important medical areas. I have a longstanding interest in the rheumatology field in diseases such as Psoriatic Arthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. I have previously been involved in the modelling of the 2009 A/H1N1 pandemic and I am, currently, engaged with the Dementias Platform UK Initiative.

Tell us a bit about your organisation

Since the inception of the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) by Royal Charter in 1913, there has been a statistical unit.  The MRC Biostatistics Unit in Cambridge is its present day incarnation. We recently celebrated our centenary, and are one of the largest groups of biostatisticians in Europe. Our mission is “to advance biomedical science by maintaining an international leading centre for the development, application and dissemination of statistical methods”. We achieve this by having a critical mass of world leading scientists with methodological, applied and computational expertise, providing a stimulating environment for cutting edge biostatistical research and being pro-active and responsive to present and future challenges in medical statistics, clinical trials and public health.

What are your expectations from this EPAD project?

Being part of a project that has the potential to transform the lives of millions of people worldwide, who might otherwise progress to Alzheimer’s disease dementia, is exciting but also places a responsibility/duty upon those involved in EPAD to make it an epitome of successful global collaborative research between all stakeholders for the benefit of public health. I am expecting that the novel disease modelling work on the EPAD Longitudinal Cohort and Proof of Concept Trial will have an impact on our understanding of Alzheimer’s disease, especially, in the pre-clinical and prodromal populations. This may then help to advance research, treatment and management of sufferers and, ultimately, go some way towards preventing Alzheimer’s dementia.

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

The European Prevention of Alzheimer’s Dementia initiative (EPAD) has recruited its first research participant in Spain, Maria (pictured).

The EUR 64 million Europe-wide initiative, which aims to improve our understanding of the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease and how it leads to dementia, is building a registry of 24,000 people and a cohort of 6,000 participants, from which 1,500 will participate in clinical trials on the prevention of Alzheimer’s dementia. 200 participants will be recruited by the Pasqual Maragall Foundation in Barcelona, which announced this first Spanish recruitment on 15 July.

Participants will have regular health checks including blood tests and brain scans. Researchers will also track their thinking skills over time using tests of mental agility. The team hopes to develop tests to identify early signs of Alzheimer’s disease that may indicate when a person is at risk of dementia before symptoms appear. They will then invite these people to take part in clinical trials aimed at testing interventions that could delay, or even prevent, the onset of dementia.

Maria, whose recruitment was done via the Barcelonaβeta Brain Research Center – part of the Pasqual Maragall Foundation – is 61 years old, lives in Barberà del Vallès and has lived alongside Alzheimer’s dementia – first with her father, who was diagnosed in the latter stages of his life, and then with two uncles and two aunts.

“I volunteered because I am surrounded by many affected people. Alzheimer’s disease has not been studied enough and is largely unknown”, she said.

According to Dr José Luis Molinuevo, EPAD co-leader and Scientific Director of the Pasqual Maragall Foundation, “EPAD is a unique opportunity to offer healthy people at risk of developing Alzheimer’s dementia the possibility to access an innovative clinical trial designed for the prevention of this disease”.

EPAD involves 36 organisations including universities, commercial partners and patient organisations. Earlier this year the initiative recruited its first research participant, Julie in Scotland.

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/IMI_EPAD

Disclaimer – All research participants data will remain anonymous in the EPAD study database and during analysis of data hereby ensuring privacy of research participants data.

Partners from two of the most important research programmes in the dementia field – the European Prevention of Alzheimer’s Dementia (EPAD) initiative and the European Medical Information Framework (EMIF) – have published an article in the journal Lancet Psychiatry, titled “Better together for better dementia research and care” in the run up to the UK’s historic “EU Referendum” of 23 June. Voters will decide whether or not the UK should continue to be a Member State of the European Union (EU).

They argue that the EU has made dementia research a priority and has made substantial funds available for research that is driving faster, more effective clinical trials, which they say is the best hope of finding a disease-modifying therapy.

Both EMIF and EPAD are funded through the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), a funding stream including both EU funding and matching funds from pharmaceutical industries. Both projects are led by UK partners and bring over EUR 17 million in direct funding to the UK.

Through the four IMI programmes that are focused on dementia, 24 UK institutions receive funding. In addition to IMI, dementia funding across Europe receives strong support from schemes such as the Centres of Excellence Network and the Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND). These collaborative programmes bring UK researchers together with some of the best scientists from across Europe, bring substantial funding to the UK and leverage funds from industry.

This research is also dependent on the free movement of scientists across Europe point out the authors. Collaboration between UK and EU scientists “brings knowledge, skills, and a vibrancy and energy to our work that would be missing were we not to be part of the EU”.

“As well as research, our membership in the EU enhances the patient and carer voice and contributes to best practice. Through our collaboration in Europe we have learnt from clinical service developments, refined tests and diagnostics, and through working closely with pan-European patient organisations, such as Alzheimer Europe, we are able to speak with a clearer, louder, and more consistent voice” the article concludes.

On 17-19 May, the EPAD project General Assembly took place in Barcelona, under the banner “Initiation and Delivery”. The first day began with project leaders Craig Ritchie, Serge van der Geyten and Jose Luis Molinuevo welcoming some 120 delegates to the meeting. The delegates then joined working sessions to discuss their progress toward the project deliverables.

The EPAD Colloquium also took place on 17 May, with a focus on dissemination and how some trial centres have been successful in motivating people to become involved in research by developing local alliances and keeping these people informed and interested in ongoing research projects. The first speaker was Jean Georges (Alzheimer Europe) who presented current and upcoming EPAD communication activities. Prof Ritchie (University of Edinburgh) described the activities of the PREVENT project and Prof Miia Kivipelto (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden) showed the results of the FINGER study. In addition, Ms Maria Escrivá, Communication Specialist at the BarcelonaBeta Brain Research Center (BBRC), presented the ongoing activity around the ALFA study.

The second day focused on the development of our longitudinal cohort study (LCS), which is in the final stages of preparation before approval. We recently received positive feedback from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on the LCS methodology. The delegates also discussed legal issues around data sharing and sample access, the ethical considerations of disclosing the risks of developing dementia and the setting up of participant panels at the European and local level,as well as future communication activities. In addition, a poster session showcased all the recent achievement of the project partners. The second day concluded with a visit to the new premises of the BBRC, which conducts research among adult children of people with Alzheimer’s dementia.

The third and final day focused on addressing issues to be resolved and a presentation on how EPAD partners are cooperating with other dementia research projects. These include the current AETIONOMY and EMIF consortia and the upcoming AMYPAD (Amyloid Imaging to Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease) project, all of which are funded by IMI – the Innovative Medicines Initiative. The delegates also held work package meetings to prioritise their upcoming activities and these were presented in the final session of the conference. The next EPAD General Assembly will take place in Stockholm in 2017.

If you want to keep up to date with our progress, you can also follow us on Twitter @IMI_EPAD

• The European Prevention of Alzheimer’s Dementia (EPAD) is an initiative that groups together 36 academic research centres & universities, biotech & pharmaceutical companies and patient associations with the aim of establishing an infrastructure to facilitate clinical trials to prevent the onset of the disease.
•  The first volunteers, from Edinburgh and Barcelona, are currently being incorporated into the European cohort study. Some of these volunteers will later participate in an investigational clinical trial.
• One of the studies promoted by the EPAD initiative includes the Barcelonabeta Brain Research Center of the Pasqual Maragall Foundation. This study will assess how the risk of developing the disease should be communicated to healthy persons or to individuals with very early symptoms.

On 17-19 May, Barcelona will be the meeting point for the most influential researchers in the field of Alzheimer’s dementia prevention in Europe. European Prevention of Alzheimer’s Dementia (EPAD) representatives will meet in the Catalan capital during these three days to attend plenary sessions and working groups. The Barcelonaβeta Brain Research Center, the research institution of the Pasqual Maragall Foundation, will host this international meeting.

The purpose of the EPAD initiative is to delay or prevent the progression of the disease to dementia in persons that are at risk of developing it and that present very few or no symptoms. To achieve this, EPAD researchers are developing a platform that uses existing information in cohort studies, patient registers and other European studies that have identified potential participants, such as the ALFA project of the Pasqual Maragall Foundation. The ultimate aim is to test drugs that act against the initial stages of the disease and thus prevent or delay the onset of symptoms.

The EPAD project is developing a register composed of 24,000 persons and a cohort of 6,000 participants. These volunteers will undertake cognitive, genetic, magnetic resonance imaging and lumbar puncture procedures. From these participants, 1,500 will be selected to participate in the clinical trials aimed at preventing Alzheimer’s Dementia. Currently, the first volunteers, participants of the Prevent study in Edinburgh and the ALFA study in Barcelona, are being incorporated into the cohort.

According to Dr. José Luis Molinuevo, co-lead of EPAD and scientific director of the Pasqual Maragall Foundation’s Barcelonabeta Brain Research Center, “EPAD is a unique opportunity to offer potential access the most innovative clinical trial designed for the prevention of Alzheimer to healthy persons at risk of developing the disease.”

How should the risk of developing the disease be communicated?

The volunteers that are being incorporated into the European cohort are healthy persons that are at risk of developing the disease in the future. The disclosure of this risk is a very sensitive aspect and has led to the launch of the international study “Approaches to the Communication of Alzheimer’s disease Risk (ACAR)” by the EPAD Bioethics working group.

The study will establish a number of recommendations and good practices, which are derived from debate panels encompassing interest groups from Spain, the UK and Alzheimer Europe’s European Working Group of People with Dementia. The results of this research will allow us to understand the attitude, implications and concerns of persons facing the disclosure of being at risk of developing dementia, with the aim of deciding which information should be communicated and which are the optimal conditions to do so.

About EPAD

 The EPAD project is a major European initiative to create a novel environment for testing numerous interventions targeted at the prevention of Alzheimer’s dementia. The start of this novel collaboration was announced in January 2015 and will initially run for five years. EPAD is mainly sponsored by the European Commission and the European pharmaceutical industry (via EFPIA) under the auspices of the Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking (IMI JU). For more information: www.ep-ad.org. The EPAD programme has an initial budget of €64M distributed across a total of 36 partners from the private and public sectors:

• Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, Belgium
• University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
• University of Oxford, United Kingdom
• BarcelonaBeta Brain research Centre at Pasqual Maragall Foundation, Spain
• Synapse Research Management Partners SL, Spain
• Karolinska Institutet, Center For Alzheimer Disease Research, Sweden
• Stichting VU-VUmc, Netherlands
• University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
• Medical Research Council Biostatistics Unit, United Kingdom
• Berry Consultants LLP, United Kingdom
• Université de Genève, Switzerland
• Radboud University Medical Centre, Netherlands
• Cardiff University, United Kingdom
• Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse, France
• Quintiles, LTD, United Kingdom
• Alzheimer Europe, Luxembourg
• Erasmus Universitair Medisch Centrum Rotterdam, Netherlands
• Hôpital de la Salpêtrière, France
• Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, France
• University of Leicester, United Kingdom
• IXICO Technologies Ltd, United Kingdom
• Araclon Biotech, S.L., Spain
• Fraunhofer, Germany
• Eisai Inc., United States
• Sanofi-Aventis Recherche & Développement, France
• Novartis Pharma AG, Switzerland
• Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH, Germany
• Ely Lilly and Company Ltd, United Kingdom
• Lundbeck A/S, Denmark
• Takeda Development Centre Europe Ltd, United Kingdom
• AC Immune SA, Switzerland
• Biogen Idec Inc., United States
• Amgen NV, Belgium
• Pfizer Limited, United Kingdom
• UCB Biopharma SPRL, Belgium
• Aridhia, United Kingdom

About Alzheimer’s disease and dementia

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive degenerative disease which causes loss of neurons in the brain. The symptoms eventually and inevitably manifest as Alzheimer’s dementia which impacts cognition, function and behaviour, becomes progressively worse over time and cannot be reversed. There are 7.7 million new cases of dementia globally each year, suggesting one new case every four seconds. There were an estimated 44.4 million people with dementia in 2013 and this number is estimated to increase to 135.5 million by 2050 (http://www.alz.co.uk/research/statistics). Currently approved treatments may temporarily stabilise or slow the worsening of symptoms, but do not alter the course of the disease. Attempts to bring new drugs to market for the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s dementia have been disappointing despite massive commercial, public and academic investment of time and resources.

CONTACTS:

Acknowledgement. The research leading to these results has received support from the Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking under grant agreement n° 115736, resources of which are composed of financial contribution from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) and EFPIA companies’ in kind contribution.

Disclaimer. This communication reflects the views of the EPAD Consortium and neither IMI nor the European Union and EFPIA are liable for any use that may be made of the information contained herein.

A major study to find interventions that prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s dementia has recruited its first participant.

The £50 million (€64 m) Europe-wide initiative aims to improve understanding of the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease and how it leads to dementia.

Julie (pictured) from near Edinburgh in Scotland is the first person to take part in the project, which aims to recruit 6000 volunteers from across Europe.

Participants will have regular health checks including blood tests and brain scans. Researchers will also track their thinking skills over time using tests of mental agility.

The team hopes to develop tests to identify early signs of Alzheimer’s disease that may indicate when a person is at risk of dementia before symptoms appear.

They will then invite these people to take part in clinical trials aimed at testing interventions that could delay, or even prevent, the onset of dementia.

The study is called the European Prevention of Alzheimer’s Dementia initiative (EPAD) and involves 36 organisations including universities, commercial partners and patient organisations.

Professor Craig Ritchie, of the University of Edinburgh, is jointly leading the study and has recruited the first participant.

Professor Ritchie said: “This is an important milestone in our quest to better understand the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s dementia. Early signs of Alzheimer’s disease are often present for up to twenty years before a person develops any symptoms. We believe that if we can identify these people sooner, early intervention may have greater success at tackling the disease.”

Julie, the first participant in the EPAD study, said: “My mum and dad both had Alzheimer’s disease so I’ve seen first-hand the devastating effects it has on patients’ lives and those around them. Both my parents were involved in research themselves so it is important for me to play my part too. I hope that my contribution will in some way help scientists to find better ways of diagnosing the disease and potentially, one day, to prevent it.”

EPAD receives support from the European Union and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) under the auspices of the Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking.

Pierre Meulien, Innovative Medicines Initiative Executive Director, said: “Through EPAD, the Innovative Medicines Initiative has brought together some of the world’s leading experts on dementia from universities, commercial partners and patient organisations. This milestone demonstrates the power of this collaboration, and we at IMI are looking forward to following the progress of this important study.”

For further information, please contact:
Jen Middleton, Press and PR Office; tel 0131 650 6514; email jen.middleton@ed.ac.uk

Notes to editors
More information about the EPAD Consortium is available at www.ep-ad.org

The EPAD Consortium has received support from the Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking under grant agreement number 115736. This Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations.
http://www.imi.europa.eu/

This communication reflects the views of the EPAD Consortium and neither IMI nor the European Union and EFPIA are liable for any use that may be made of the information contained herein.

Disclaimer – All research participants data will remain anonymous in the EPAD study database and during analysis of data hereby ensuring privacy of research participants data.