Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative: ADNI Clinical Trials

Last week was a highpoint for the ADNI group with the presentation of the Nancy and Ronald Reagan award at the national Alzheimer’s Disease Gala in Washington DC, and the face to face meeting of the ADNI researchers and private partners in LA preceding the American Academy of Neurology meeting in Hawaii. I had the privilege of attending the first two with my colleague Dr. Chahin Pachai. He then went on to Hawaii (Note to self – next time get Chahin to write a blog and I’ll go to Hawaii)!

The gala was a fundraiser, which BioClinica was pleased to support. There were several items that were news to me, the primary one being the National Alzheimer’s Project Act (NAPA), which was signed into law in January of this year. NAPA has created a coordinated national plan to overcome the Alzheimer’s crisis and ensure the coordination and evaluation of all national efforts in Alzheimer’s research, clinical care, institutional and home-and community-based programs. As Maryalice Parks, Legislative Correspondent to The Honorable Edward Markey (US House of Representatives) stated, no determination as to how much money would be proportioned, but it was at least on the legislative books. I had the pleasure of Maryalice’s company at the table, along with Lauren from the Alzheimer’s Association. There were a number of congressmen and women and senators present at the event, since, as they stated in the speeches, Alzheimer’s disease affects Democrats and Republicans equally.

Dr. Michael Weiner accepted the Nancy and Ronald Reagan award on behalf of the whole ADNI group. He has chaired and spearheaded the ADNI for the last 6 years. This is one of 2 major public-private partnerships for the evaluation of a disease with a large unmet disease. (The other is the Osteoarthritis Imaging Initiative or OAI, with which I also have some involvement). After attending these recent meetings, I will have a couple other blogs about Alzheimer’s disease in clinical trials that I’ll be sharing soon.