On 4 February, over 90\nrepresentatives of the EPAD project met in Berlin. Participants included 15\ndedicated teams from UK, Spain, Germany, Italy, Belgium and Greece together\nwith representatives from the University of Edinburgh, Clinical Research\nOrganisations, IQVIA and Janssen. The objective of the meeting was to prepare the\nnew trial delivery centres (TDCs) to put the EPAD Longitudinal Cohort Study\n(LCS) into action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This Investigator meeting allowed\nparticipants to discuss all materials and procedures for implementing the LCS\nprotocol. It also gave the opportunity to the new study sites that will join\nthe LCS in the coming months to ask questions and share their expectations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prof Craig Ritchie (the\nUniversity of Edinburgh) welcomed the attendees and explained how the LCS works\nconceptually, the purpose of the protocol and how the LCS is different from\nother cohort studies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ellie McMaster and Neil Mitchell\n(the University of Edinburgh) also spoke about their roles and responsibilities\nwithin the Sponsor\u2019s office known as ACCORD (The Academic and Clinical Central\nOffice for Research and Development \u2013 a partnership between the University of\nEdinburgh and NHS Lothian Health Board) in the LCS. This was quickly followed by\nthe role of IQVIA by Joe Milne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After an energetic coffee\nsession, the afternoon was focused on the operational aspects of the project\nand included presentations on MRI Imaging Processing (IXICO), EPAD cognitive\nevaluation (Medavante) and biological sample handling (EPAD Biobank). Craig Ritchie closed then the day by thanking\nall attendees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bernard Hanseeuw, based at the Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc\n(Belgium), will be involved in running the trial in Brussels. \u201cEPAD is one of\nthe first experiment of adaptive clinical trial design and one of the first\ndata-sharing experience in Europe in the field of Alzheimer\u2019s disease. I am\nvery much excited about the opportunity to share data and to have a very large\ncohort\u201d, he said.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Nikolaos Scarmeas, based at the Aeginition Hospital Athens (Greece), enthused the added value of the EPAD project after attending the Berlin meeting \u201cThe benefit of EPAD is first of all the collaboration of many people from different countries in Europe who collectively put efforts together. The advantage is that EPAD combines two different methodologies (observational and interventional parts) with a careful design\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In a video interview during the meeting, Craig Ritchie, Jos\u00e9 Luis Molinuevo, Katrin Haeverans and Frank Jessen explained the goals of the EPAD project for 2019. Watch the video below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n