Category: News

The European Prevention of Alzheimer’s Dementia (EPAD) project launched its second video about amyloid.

This animation movie tries to explain what we currently understand about amyloid and how it relates to dementia. EPAD Research Participants may be invited to take part in a clinical trial if test results suggest abnormal levels of a protein called amyloid. If abnormal levels are present, it may mean that person has a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s dementia in later life.

The three minutes animated video is available on the EPAD YouTube channel, which includes also the introduction movie launched on March 2017. Both videos have been developed in English as well as additional languages.

The EPAD project 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.

We are very pleased to announce that the EPAD LCS study is now recruiting volunteers in San Sebastian (Spain), which opened as a new EPAD Trial Delivery Center. This centre is the first wave 2 centres opened and few other will be following very soon.

Aranzazu is the first participant enrolled in the EPAD project in San Sebastian. “I volunteered because my father had Alzheimer’s disease and I want to contribute to give the chance to my relatives and the rest of the society to live without this devastating disease”, she said after her first visit. Aranzazu is one of the participants of the CITA Foundation’s Basque Cohort. This site has just initiated enrolment, under the coordination of the National Lead of the project, the Barcelonabeta Brain Research Center.

According to Pablo Marti­nez-Lage, Scientific Director of the CITA Foundation, “EPAD offers a unique opportunity to take part in the most innovative study and clinical trial for the prevention of Alzheimer’s to those who may be at risk of developing the disease”.

Aranzazu is 71 years old and has been collaborating with CITA since 2010. “After my participation in the Gipuzkoa Alzheimer’s Project, I have to recognise that I am familiar with the tests that I have done. The magnetic resonance, the neuropsychological tests and the rest of the tests are nothing compared to the sense of pride that I feel for my participation in this research project”, she explained.

CITA expects to enrol at least 50 participants who will have regular health checks, including cognitive and genetic tests, brain scans, and lumbar punctures.

The Spanish press release announcing the first participant enrolled in CITA is available here.

On 13 June, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published an editorial entitled “Brain Amyloid Pathology and Cognitive Function – Alzheimer Disease Without Dementia?”. This paper was written by Pieter Jelle Visser and Betty Tijms from the Maastricht University and the VU University Medial Center VUmc Amsterdam (the Netherlands).

EPAD is acknowledged in this last JAMA editorial. This work has received grant support from the European Union/European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking (115372 [European Medical Information Framework],116020[ROADMAP], 115736 [EPAD]).

The EPAD project has an ambitious goal – to revolutionise the way we carry out clinical trials for treatments designed to prevent Alzheirmer’s dementia.

In a interview with the IMI Programme Office, project coordinators Craig Ritchie of the University of Edinburgh and Serge Van der Geyten of Janssen Pharmaceutical explain what the EPAD project has achieved so far and why the project team is like a family.

“I think one of the strengths of EPAD is that we can do analysis across the different interventions, across the different trials, and learn, but without running into the legal boundaries you would normally have because we have created a trusting environment and we have put a system in place that allows us to do that and actually learn across the treatment arms” says Serge Van der Geyten.

On 15-17 May, the EPAD project General Assembly took place in Stockholm, under the banner “From Delivery to Data”. It was hosted by the Karolinska Institutet and jointly sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim and Lundbeck. The meeting provided a chance to gather everyone who work on the EPAD study to discuss its progress and future plans.

The first day began with project leaders Craig Ritchie, Serge van der Geyten and Miia Kivipelto welcoming more than 150 delegates to the meeting. They gave a general overview of the project and introduced the agenda for the coming days. Each WP then had the opportunity to present its remit and progress so far.

On 16 May, the General Assembly gathered for its official inauguration by HRH Queen Silvia of Sweden (pictured), who welcomed delegates to Stockholm and the first session of the day on “the future of AD research”. The programme for this second day focussed on the status of the EPAD Longitudinal Cohort Study (LCS) creating an environment for sustained success; the “EPAD enhancement programme”; and the “EPAD Academy”. In addition, Dr Gill Farrar from GE Healthcare was invited to do a presentation on EPAD’s collaboration with its sister project AMYPAD (AMYloid imaging to Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease). There, she gave also an overview of the AMYPAD partners and objectives. For more information on the AMYPAD initiative, follow @IMI_AMYPAD on Twitter and visit its website recently launched, http://amypad.eu/.
Over the lunch break, WP8 Ethical, Legal and Social Implications held a Satellite Symposium on “Conceptualising Alzheimer’s Disease, hosted by Krista Tromp from VUmc Amsterdam. Dr Luc Truyen of Janssen delivered the research perspective, Dr Dianne Gove presented Alzheimer Europe’s position, and finally Dr Edo Richard of Radboud UMC spoke from the physician’s perspective. There was a lively discussion about emerging ethical issues within EPAD during this session, which continued into the WP8 breakout session at the end of the day. There were also dedicated breakout sessions for WP2, 3 and 4 at this time.

The first and final day focused on the Proof of Concept (PoC) Study Platform – progress so far and looking to the future. Presentations were done on PoC master protocol, statistics and CSF cut-off values. In addition, next steps were discussed including governance and operational aspects. Finally, the meeting closed with all delegates invited to the next General Assembly, which will take place in Amsterdam in May 2018.

The highlight was undoubtedly the presence of an Edinburgh-based research participant Eileen Penman, a member of the EPAD Research Participant Panel, who is the first member of this Panel to attend an EPAD consortium meeting.

If you want to keep up to date with our progress, you can also follow us on Facebook (https://fr-fr.facebook.com/IMIEPAD/) and Twitter (@IMI_EPAD).

On 10 May, the European Prevention of Alzheimer’s Dementia (EPAD) project developed its own YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUDfoj0UvWCC0B9BFDnEvTA.

This channel includes the various EPAD-related movies/clips ever produced and more particularly its first video – an introduction to the project. The three and a half minute animated video is available in the EPAD website homepage and now in the EPAD YouTube Channel. This channel includes the introduction video developed in English as well as additional languages (Dutch, Spanish and French). In addition, all EPAD partners presented in YouTube are link to the EPAD YouTube channel.

The YouTube video gallery will also be embedded in the EPAD website in the next few months.

Go ahead and take a look!

The EPAD project 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.

What is your current role in EPAD?  

I am one of 2 EFPIA representatives on the EPAD Executive Committee; a co-lead for Work Package 1 along with Simon Lovestone and Gary Romano; and the EFPIA head of the Clinical Candidate Selection Committee.  I am also on the Clinical Development Executive.  So I have many, interlocking roles!

What did you do prior to joining EPAD?  

EPAD is one of many activities I have currently – work on EPAD represents about 25% of what I do.  My “day” job is as Global Head of Medicine Creation Strategy in the Neurology Business Group at Eisai, Inc.  Before joining the pharmaceutical industry, I was an academic geriatric psychiatrist at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts, US, a major teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School.  I have always been interested in improving clinical care for patients with Alzheimer’s disease – as a clinician, a researcher on behavioral and sleep disorders in AD, a clinical investigator, and now as a pharmaceutical drug developer and partner in many AD projects.

Tell us a bit about the institution/company/organisation you work for.

Eisai is a global pharmaceutical company focussed mainly on new drug development in neurology and oncology.  Alzheimer’s disease is a major focus for us.  We currently have 2 large projects underway:  a monoclonal antibody against amyloid protofibrils that is being studied in a novel, Bayesian adaptive Phase 2 trial; and a BACE inhibitor being studied in 2 large, multinational Phase 3 trials.  We are members of many private-public consortia for AD in addition to EPAD, including ADNI, GAP, and the DIAN Pharma Consortium.  Our corporate mission is “Human Health Care” or “hhc” – “We give first thought to patients and their families, and to increasing the benefits health care provides.”

What are your expectations from the EPAD project?

I am very excited by the opportunities that EPAD provides to advance drug development in Alzheimer’s disease.  EPAD is going to make major contributions to both the science and the infrastructure needed to accelerate clinical trials in this difficult area.  I hope we can help move several drugs into full development and eventually approval by regulatory authorities and access to patients, through generating data that will enhance decision-making for new drugs.  I also hope that EPAD can provide a model for collaboration among industry partners to develop better treatments for other serious diseases.

From the 20^th to the 22^nd of April, the 2^nd Annual Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) conference took place in Barcelona, Spain. The event was divided in 10 sessions:

• Session 1: Advancing a National Dementia Policy – Lessons Learned & Steps Forward
• Session 2: Policy & Economics of Dementia
• Session 3: Moderated Poster Session – Scholarship Attendees
• Session 4: Changing the Narrative Around Dementia & Aging
• Session 5: Moderated Poster Session – GBHI Fellows
• Session 6: Concurrent Breakout Sessions
• Session 7: Frontotemporal Dementia
• Session 8: Advances in Dementia Prevention
• Session 9: Alzheimer’s Disease & Down Syndrome
• Session 10: Successful Programs for the Study of Biomarkers & Genetics in Dementia

During the session 8, José Luis Molinuevo, Clinical Director of the Barcelonaβeta Brain Research Center, gave a talk on the new approaches to prevent Alzheimer’s disease. After to have explained the rationale behind the disease, he gave some examples of studies focused on the primary as well as secondary prevention of Alzheimer’s disease. The EPAD project was presented. Indeed, its objective is to develop a platform to test treatments for the secondary prevention of Alzheimer’s dementia. José Luis presented the aim and the consortium of this project. In addition, he explained the EPAD register, EPAD proof of concept trial and EPAD adaptive trial.

To access to the detailed program, please download it here (Program).