Dear AMYPAD friends,
We are now half-way through our 5-year project and fully enrolling for both studies, with the Prognostic Natural History Study (PNHS) approaching 100 participants from 5 active sites, hopefully soon overtaking the Diagnostic and Patient Management Study (DPMS) that has surpassed the 300 mark. Early in the fall we estimate the break-even point where both studies will have equal numbers of participants on board. Many new sites are being activated thanks to the hard work of logistic teams – a great team effort!
Hard work is also ongoing to allow non-EPAD cohorts to join the PNHS, with subjects from the twin-cohort of EMIF-AD already being enrolled at VUmc in Amsterdam and the ALFA cohort from BBRC in Barcelona soon to follow. The advantages of these cohorts are that historical PET data are already available, allowing rates of amyloid change to be measured before regular follow-up scans can be acquired in EPAD participants. Challenges exist to merge the data-sets in terms of non-imaging data (e.g. neuropsychology) and several pieces of infrastructure need to be harnessed for this extended scope.
The mandatory quarterly report about recruitment has been favourably received by IMI and the next quarterly report will be prepared shortly to document the enormous amount of activity that has occurred over the last three months. We are finalizing the first amendment to the grant agreement that will reflect many of the necessary changes to accommodate these activities. Meanwhile, work in other work packages is progressing including quantification software and disease modelling.
The fact that AMYPAD is being recognized as an important consortium is well illustrated by the commentary we were invited to write for Lancet Neurology to discuss the publication of the interim results of the IDEAS study in JAMA. That study confirmed the enormous added value in diagnostic certainty of amyloid-PET in a non-randomized study in the US.
Together we will make AMYPAD a success!
This electronic newsletter will be published quarterly and be accessible via the AMYPAD website (www.amypad.eu). In this issue, you will find a reflection on our optimized dual-time window protocol, interviews with two AMYPAD collaborators, the highlighted achievements over the past quarter as well as AMYPAD’s participation in relevant events.
