Researchers from around the world can now have free access to a sample collection and data from an important Alzheimer’s disease clinical trial, thanks to a collaboration between two pharmaceutical companies and a public foundation. This collaboration, which bridges the public–private divide, represents an increasing awareness in the Alzheimer’s research community of the need to join forces in order to tackle this complex and devastating disease.
Coloured axial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of the brain of a 65-year-old patient with Alzheimer’s disease. Data similar to this has been made freely available to researchers around the world.© ZEPHYR/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
In collaboration with the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF), the pharmaceutical companies Shionogi & Co., Ltd. and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. have pulled together to allow researchers around the world to have access to clinical samples from a discontinued Alzheimer’s clinical development program. The initiative was announced at the annual Dementia Summit of the World Dementia Council on 18 October 2019.
“In the clinical trial, we identified people who had early-stage Alzheimer’s disease but who were maybe 10 years from getting a standard diagnosis,” explains Husseini Manji, global therapeutic leader of neuroscience at Janssen, the Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. “We had to screen up to 20 people just to find one suitable person. Those we selected were fully characterized using biomarkers and cognitive testing, and we then followed their development over a long time.”
The data include initial cognitive function test results and positron-emission tomography (PET) scans, and follow-up tests from later years. The trial was discontinued because the treatment, like so many trialed in Alzheimer’s research, did not appear to have a significant effect on participants’ cognitive abilities. However, the data still chart the decline from early Alzheimer’s diagnosis to later disease manifestation.
“This is amazingly valuable. You rarely come across such data,” says Manji. “So, we thought we should make the clinical samples available free of charge to the global research community. Scientists with a great research need can apply for access,” Manji adds.
“This collaboration will encourage diverse and even unconventional ideas to be tested,” says Rami Suzuki, head of medical affairs at Janssen Japan.
“Our goal is to fast-track programs to prevent, treat and ultimately cure Alzheimer’s,” says Howard Fillit, founding executive director and chief science offcer of the ADDF. “These samples will play a significant role in helping to accelerate the development of new biomarkers for Alzheimer’s.”