World-first trial to test if experimental drug can prevent Alzheimer’s

People with a heightened risk of Alzheimer’s are set to take part in a world-first trial to explore whether an experimental drug can prevent them from developing the disease.

Screening for the global trial began in Europe this week. Participants will undergo memory tests before being offered blood tests to see whether they have p-tau217 — a biomarker that points to a heightened risk of Alzheimer’s.

The trial, which aims to recruit 1,600 people, will investigate whether prescribing an experimental drug, trontinemab, to participants with elevated levels of p-tau217 can stop them from developing dementia.

The move comes after research found the drug cleared amyloid plaques in 90% of people with early-stage Alzheimer’s, removing a defining characteristic of the disease.”The idea that someone alive today could become the first person cured of Alzheimer’s disease would have seemed unimaginable not long ago,” said Hilary Evans-Newton CBE, chief executive of Alzheimer’s Research UK. “Today … it’s a future we know is within reach.”While the trial is one of the first to focus on prevention rather than cure, researchers caution that trontinemab is an investigative drug that may, ultimately, not work.