Suzanne Newman joins Dr. Cherian Verghese, Principal Researcher at the forefront of Alzheimer's disease at Keystone Clinical Studies LLC in the Philadelphia area. This segment focuses on types of clinical trials and what's involved in participating.

In the phase of informed consent, participants and trial partners are appraised on details about the medicine, that it’s voluntary, outlines potential side effects, not charged to insurance, that participants can withdraw at any time, and that they can also talk to the ethics committee at any time. A trial partner spends time with the participant, a family member, friend, or neighbor — conducting the study needs someone who can tell us about how the participant functions at home with their activities of daily living.

There are prevention trials, for people who have beta-amyloid proteins in their brains but show no symptoms, which are to remove the amyloids and counteract them. The most important area of research is for those with mild short-term memory problems, people who repeat the same story, forget mundane everyday things, and rely on a cell phone for reminders. Athira Pharma's study, for those with mild to moderate Alzheimer's, is for a drug that's intended to help regenerate the brain, deal with the damage that's already being done.

If you know of someone with Alzheimer's, there's probably a trial available for them. For those interested in a trial, visit Lift-AD Clinical Trial to learn more. You can learn more about Keystone by calling 610-277-8073 or visiting Keystone Clinical Studies LLC.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.