On February 3rd, the Accelerate Cures/Treatments for All Dementias (ACT-AD) coalition hosted its 13th Annual FDA/ACT-AD Allies meeting, Common Threads: Learning from the Related Dementias. The meeting explored the current therapeutic and research landscape for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, featuring presentations on cross-cutting issues between different forms of dementia. The meeting followed the coalition’s expansion from an Alzheimer’s disease-specific coalition to include a focus on all types of dementia
Featured presentations:
- Steven Greenberg, M.D., Ph.D., presented his work leading the academic consortia, MarkVCID, to develop and validate biomarkers for vascular cognitive impairment. Dr. Greenberg gave an overview of the consortia’s work deliver biomarkers for clinical trials to treat vascular cognitive impairment and dementia.
- Laurie Ryan, Ph.D., and Dr. Suzana Petanceska, Ph.D., of the National Institute on Aging, presented on the federal government’s portfolio of projects to accelerate therapy development for Alzheimer’s and related dementias. Their presentations addressed the government’s investments to enable an open science research ecosystem and develop the infrastructure necessary to facilitate drug discovery for ADRD.
- Jeffrey Cummings, M.D., ScD, presented on cross-disease opportunities for Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. Dr. Cummings’ presentation covered ADRD shared biology, cross-disease treatments, informative trials, and neurofilament light for ADRD trials.
- David Bennett, M.D., presented on his research to understand the molecular underpinning of dementia, including dementia risk factors, pathology, and cognitive decline.
- The meeting concluded with a panel discussion moderated by the Alliance for Aging Research that included experts from Avanir, Biogen, and Otsuka, to discuss the challenges of researching and developing both symptomatic and disease-modifying therapies for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
A full-length professional summary of the meeting will be available in the coming weeks. The presentation slides used for the meeting can be found below.
