The Accelerate Cures/Treatments for All neuroDegenerative Diseases (ACT-AD) 18th annual meeting was held today in Washington, D.C. The day-long meeting explored the current therapeutic and research landscape for Alzheimer’s disease and related neurodegenerative conditions. The Alliance convened experts from academia; biomedical companies; the FDA and the National Institutes of Health (NIH); as well as members of the Alzheimer’s disease community.

Alliance for Aging Research Director of Public Policy and Government Relations Adina Lasser kicked off the day by welcoming an estimated 75 attendees.

The goal of the meeting was to foster connection and meaningful dialogue around emerging issues and effective treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and related neurodegenerative diseases. The discussions highlighted clinical trials and breaking research, emerging technologies, and the therapeutic pipeline.

Suzana Petanceska, Ph.D., Director of the Office for Strategic Development and Partnerships (OSDP) at the National Institute on Aging’s Division of Neuroscience; and Laurie Ryan, Ph.D., Chief of the Clinical Interventions and Diagnostics Branch in the division of Neuroscience at the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health, offer the NIH/NIA Alzheimer’s/Other Dementias Research Update.

Nick Seyfried, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Neurology at Emory University; David A. Bennett, M.D., Director of the RUSH Alzheimer’s Disease Center and the Robert C. Borwell Professor of Neurological Sciences; and Gregory Carter, Ph.D., a professor and the Bernard and Luisa Milch Endowed Chair at the Jackson Laboratory, participate in a panel on molecular subtyping in Alzheimer’s disease. The discussion centered around the different approaches, processes, and findings around subtypes and integrating the data.

Jin Zhou, M.D., Ph.D., Executive Director of Clinical Development, Clinical Evidence Generation, Deep Human Biology Learning at Eisai; and Carrie Rubel, Ph.D., Senior Scientific Director and Head of Fluid Biomarkers for Late-Stage and Marketed Products at Biogen, offered industry updates to the group.

Daniel Martin Watterson, Ph.D., endowed John G. Searle Professorship of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Northwestern University and Professor of Pharmacology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine; Pamela Maher, Ph.D., research professor and Head of Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory at The Salk Institute; and Adam Mecca, M.D., Ph.D., geriatric psychiatrist and cognitive disorders specialist in the department of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine and Director of the Yale Alzheimer’s Multimodal Neuroimaging Laboratory discuss the therapeutic pipeline for AD/ADRD.

The meeting also featured an informative fireside chat between Alliance President & CEO Sue Peschin, MHS, and Dr. Teresa Buracchio, Director of the FDA’s Office of Neuroscience in the Office of New Drugs, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Dr. Buracchio touched on different aspects of clinical trials, challenges and opportunities in exploring pre-clinical Alzheimer’s Disease, and advances in neurology and psychiatry research on antipsychotics.