A drug designed to improve memory formation is now recruiting early-stage Alzheimer’s patients in 60 areas around the country for a Phase II clinical trial.
The biotechnology firm Tetra Discovery Partners announced on Wednesday that it has launched the Phase II trial for a drug called BPN14770.
New Alzheimer’s drug BPN14770 goes after PDE4D
Unlike other recent potential Alzheimer’s disease drugs, BPN14770 does not target amyloid beta plaques. Instead, it inhibits phosphodiesterase-4D, also known as PDE4D. It’s just one target researchers have turned to since the failure of several other drugs like Biogen’s aducanumab that hinged on the beta amyloid hypothesis.
BPN14770 is designed to bolster early and late stages of memory formation and improve memory and cognition (i.e. thinking, reasoning, remembering and learning). Earlier trials found that it improved memory and cognition in healthy elderly adults. The new trial will assess its performance in people with Alzheimer’s.
What you need to know about the PICASSO AD clinical trial
The trial, PICASSO AD (NCT03817684), is recruiting 255 early-stage Alzheimer’s patients, ages 55 to 85, in 60 sites across the U.S. It is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study (the gold standard in research).
Click here to learn about the trial’s eligibility requirements, and find out if there’s a location recruiting near you.
Participants will be randomly selected to receive either a placebo or one of two different doses (10 mg or 25 mg) of BPN14770 twice a day.
The 3-month PICASSO AD trial will measure the change in patients’ memory from before the treatment to 3 months after the end of treatment using the standard clinical memory test Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neurological Status-Delayed Memory Index (RBANS-DMI).
Researchers will also assess changes in other memory, cognition, and daily living activities tests, including the Mini-Mental State Examination and the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study-Activities of Daily Living Inventory (ADCS-ADL).
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Hello. I have the double ApoE4 gene and am experiencing some mild memory problems from Alzheimer’s. I would very much like to enroll in the PICASSO AD trial. NCT03817684. I will turn 70 in August, 2019. I live at 720 Beechmont Rd., Lexington. KY. Please let me know if I can enroll in this study. Thanks. Thomas E Meng
My husband has been diagnosed with early Alzheimers disease. He is not so bad yet. We are hoping it is slow progressing. His doctor has him taking Aricept. I’m not sure if he would qualify for a clinic trail because of that. We would be interested in your study.
How do we find out more in regards to participation in this study?
My father is 70 years old
He was diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease
I have read that you have studies on this
How can I share my father in this study?
My mother is 68 y, diagnosed 3 years ago with dementia and 9 months ago became Alzheimer please how can she participate in this trial
My mother and grandmother both have/had classic Alzheimers. I am a 62-year old female with no symptoms (but mild and hopefully normal forgetfulness), holding a highly stressful and demanding courthouse research position. Are there any clinical trials going on that could utilize a history such as mine?