TAMPA BAY, Fla — The Sun City Center area and its population which skews heavily to retirees is now part of a potentially groundbreaking Phase 3 study to determine whether participants are predisposed to Alzheimer's disease and if so, would qualify for a medication that hopes to stop the deadly disease before it even begins.
Care Access is teaming up with Eli Lilly & Co. for a nationwide clinical trial that begins with a simple blood draw for participants 55 years and older. Scientists are able to isolate a bio marker in that blood draw that could show if patients are at higher risk for cognitive and functional decline related to Alzheimer's.
Study participants can then opt to receive several monthly treatments of donanemab. According to Eli Lilly, previous Phase 2 trial results showed that donanemab slowed cognitive and functional decline in patients with early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease.
Specifically, treatment with donanemab slowed decline by 32 percent compared to a placebo at 76 weeks. The Sun City Center study aims to find out if donanemab when taken early on in life can actually stop Alzheimer's before it ever begins. "Clinical trials will change how we identify and really treat Alzheimer's in early stages," says Holly Hoefer, Vice President of Patient Engagement at Care Access. "We need a treatment that can reverse or prevent the onset of symptoms and if these trials are successful we'll have a future where Alzheimer's disease can be a disease of the past," adds Hoefer.
If you are interested in more information or to take part in the study in Sun City Center you can call 813-519-4006 or at TestForALZ.com
