With Blood Test Looming, Government Puts $41 Million into Clinical Trials to Ward off Alzheimer’s Disease

ARPA-H announced a $41 million investment to study whether existing drugs and natural products, including supplements, can be repurposed to help prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease in people who test positive for early risk markers. The initiative will support testing multiple potential interventions aimed at delaying or stopping the condition before symptoms develop.

Andrew Teich, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology in Neurology at Columbia University, calls the idea of testing multiple drugs at once “fantastic,” noting that Alzheimer’s-related brain damage is likely caused by a combination of factors. Dr. Teich and Columbia neuroscientist Andrew Sproul, PhD, Associate Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology, are also investigating whether approved drugs and natural products can be repurposed to treat Alzheimer’s by identifying “master regulator” proteins involved in neurodegeneration and finding drugs that may influence them in cells. [read more]

Source: Science News