The University of California system has chosen a new director of its Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study (ADCS), and he says he is already optimistic about the “new era” of research and treatment.
“I think dementia research has entered a new stage,” said University of British Columbia neurologist Howard Feldman, who will formally begin his new role with ADCS in April. “Over the past two decades, we’ve learned an enormous amount about the biology of disease, and have advanced our ability for the first time to visualize the pathology of the dementias in the living brain. This heralds a new era in being able to mark the impact of treatment as we seek the elusive goal of slowing or preventing these dementias.”
ADCS runs the NOBLE study, for which the University of Pennsylvania is a clinical site. NOBLE is testing an investigational drug for patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease.
Currently, Penn is assisting with three trials that transferred to the University of Southern California after ADCS Director Paul Aisen resigned to become the founding director of USC’s Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute, based in San Diego. Penn also has worked with ADCS on at least five other clinical trials in the past.
“Though progress has been slow, the urgency and scale of AD great within our aging society, I am optimistic that with a focused global effort we will succeed at improving the quality of life of those at risk or with dementia,” Feldman said.