Memory and Aging Program (MAP) at Butler Hospital, a member of Care New England and a major teaching affiliate of Alpert Medical School of Brown University, has launched another research trial for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). As one of the first to register a participant, the purpose of the study is to assess the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of RO7105705, an experimental drug in people with early to mild signs of AD.

The new study, called Tauriel, is a clinical trial sponsored by Genentech, Inc., a member of the Roche Group. The trial is designed for people with mild cognitive impairment or mild AD dementia, determined through cognitive testing and brain images showing levels of amyloid protein and tau protein tangles associated with AD.

“Alzheimer’s disease is an imminent public health crisis, currently without a cure,” said Dr. Danielle Goldfarb, neuropsychiatrist at Butler Hospital and an investigator on the study. “Adding this clinical trial to the many underway here, allows us to learn more about the disease and possible treatments.” 

Butler Hospital is one of the first of 125 research centers worldwide to place someone in this trial. Participants, age 50 to 80 years old with mild cognitive impairment or mild AD dementia, will be followed for two or more years, with regular appointments to administer the infusion and conduct tests and procedures. As a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, neither the research team nor the participants know whether the active RO7105705 or matching placebo is being administered.

Dr. Stephen Salloway, director of the Memory and Aging Program and a professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, calls this study “a big step in the war against Alzheimer’s.” Dr. Salloway has spent more than 20 years spearheading clinical research at the MAP and is recognized as global leader in research and treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

He said, “This study brings new clinical trial options for patients with early Alzheimer’s disease, and because the study uses a new PET scan technique to visualize and measure the effects of this intervention on tau pathology, it could also prove to be a major advance in brain imaging.” PET scans, which have only been available for about 10 years, are a type of nuclear medicine imaging that provided scientists and physicians the first detailed pictures of amyloid protein and tau protein tangles in the brain.

For more information about the Alzheimer’s research being conducted at MAP, visit butler.org/memory or call 455-6402.