MIAMI: What if doctors could detect and treat symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease 10 or even 20 years before a patient’s memory problems begin?
That is the auspicious goal of the Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer’s study, or the A4 study for short. The three-year clinical trial, which began in early 2014, is testing a new investigational treatment for Alzheimer’s.
Amyloid is a protein normally produced in the brain that can build up in older people, forming plaque deposits. Scientists believe the accumulation of these deposits over decades may hasten the development of Alzheimer’s disease. The A4 study is assessing whether decreasing amyloid with an antibody can slow the memory loss associated with amyloid buildup.
Dr. Reisa Sperling, professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School and director of the Center for Alzheimer’s Research and Treatment at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, is serving as project leader for the A4 study…