Pitt looking for volunteers for large-scale Alzheimer’s study

PITTSBURGH — Researchers at Pitt are looking for volunteers to take part in a large-scale study to prevent Alzheimer’s.

The University of Pittsburgh’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center is one of more than 70 academic universities across the US and Canada collaborating on the “AHEAD” study.

“We are entering a very interesting era in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. Oscar Lopez, director of the center.

Lopez said 1,400 volunteers of all races and ethnicities are needed.

The ideal candidates are in the early stages of developing Alzheimer’s.

Some people would be in the treatment group, and some would be in the placebo group,” Lopez explained.

The Ahead Study is 4 years long and requires volunteers to be:

• 55 to 80 years old
• Have normal thinking and memory abilities
• Be willing to learn amyloid results
• Have a trusted family member or friend answer questions about your memory and thinking
• And lastly, receive regular IV infusions of the drug lecanemab. The commercial name is LEQEMB. Lopez says are there are risks with the medication, including brain swelling and minor brain bleeds.

“The purpose of this drug is to remove the amyloid of the brain, and the trials have shown that they can do that,” he said. “They are very successful (at) removing the bad protein from the brain. So the thing we’re trying to do now is move to an early stage. And to try to avoid the buildup of these proteins.”

Amyloid starts forming in the brain decades before a person experiences memory loss or behavior changes. AHEAD researchers are trying to intervene before there are symptoms.

“For the first time in almost 20 years, we have medications that can slow down progression,’ Lopez said. “And that has been huge.”

If you’d like to volunteer in the study, visit https://www.adrc.pitt.edu/.

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