Advice for Families Navigating Alzheimer Clinical Trials

A diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease is a tragedy for an individual and all of their family members. With no known cure and only limited treatment options, clinical research has been focusing on ways to help slow or stop disease progression.

With such a mysterious and devastating illness, clinical trials of treatments and drugs are constantly ongoing. With few proven treatments that help slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, many patients and family members turn to clinical trials in the hope that they may be among those who achieve some degree of help from better treatments that have not yet been approved by the FDA–or at least help researchers to learn more about this brain disorder.

Whether the patient is exhibiting mild cognitive impairment in early Alzheimer’s disease or has begun to experience significant functional decline as the disease progression continues, participants are needed at every stage of Alzheimer’s disease to fill clinical trials and provide vital statistical data to research studies dedicated to the defeated of this disease.

If your loved one has begun developing Alzheimer’s disease and is willing to participate in clinical studies that help develop solutions for this terrible disease, please refer to the resources outlined in this article to help them find clinical trials in which the changes in their cognitive function can be noted and new treatments can be administered. Somewhere amid all the patients in Alzheimer clinical trials is the data that will show how to stop the progression of this and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Mild Alzheimer’s Disease: How Early Stages and Mild Cognitive Impairment Provides a Great Opportunity

Upon an Alzheimer’s diagnosis, every family immediately wishes that they could stop the progression of their loved one’s disease in its very tracks. If the disease is caught early the only symptom may be very mild cognitive impairment, and brain imaging may show only minimal damage.

Since the patient still feels like him or herself, he or she may not want to participate in clinical research trials at this stage. They may want to just hope that the disease does not progress and that no intervention may be necessary.

Unfortunately, Alzheimer’s disease progresses very predictably. While some patients experience rapid degeneration and some have symptoms that worsen more slowly, the disease always gets worse in time.

Unfortunately, there is little or no evidence that reversing its progression is even possible.

The Importance of Trial Participants Who Are Still in Good Brain Health

An early diagnosis while the patient has only mild Alzheimer’s disease presents a unique opportunity for the patient, their family, and researchers. Because the disease has not had time to do much damage, there is still time to see if different drugs and treatments have a chance of slowing the disease, potentially stopping it with only mild cognitive impairment.

Imagine if your loved one was among the first to try a breakthrough drug that slowed the disease or stopped it in its tracks. Wouldn’t it be better to stall Alzheimer’s before it has a chance to cause more than mild cognitive impairment?

Waiting until the disease begins to change a patient’s personality or take away their memory can be a sad mistake. Even if the drugs work, they can only slow or halt the disease; they cannot restore good brain health.

If possible, the time to find clinical trials is during early Alzheimer’s disease. But the second best time is immediately after the diagnosis, even if this occurs after significant brain damage. Joining a clinical research trial can greatly impact our understanding of Alzheimer’s disease.

Participating in Clinical Research Studies

If you are considering helping a family member with Alzheimer’s disease participate in clinical research, it is important to understand how this research is done.

Structure of Clinical Trials

Clinical trials are carefully structured in four phases, beginning with phase I which centers on drug and treatment safety and often calls for healthy volunteers and a small pool of participants.

Phase II of clinical research progresses to testing efficacy in patients at various stages of Alzheimer’s disease, along with determining side effects and noting any drug interactions.

Phase III expands to a much larger population of patients, comparing results to those brought about by other drugs and treatments.

Phase IV means that the drug or treatment is now available to the public, and the trial keeps track of continued trends of efficacy.

Tools Available to Researchers and Participants

Beyond the chance of being on the cutting edge of a breakthrough treatment, research studies provide a great opportunity for families to keep tabs on the cognitive impairment that the patient is experiencing.

Studies often include regular brain imaging under the Alzheimer’s disease neuroimaging initiative, meaning that there will at least be visible data on how the patient’s brain is changing over time. This can be helpful for patients and families as it provides a tangible explanation for changing behavior and cognitive impairment.

There is also a built-in degree of support for those who participate, as they work closely with researchers who have dedicated their lives to studying and fighting the disease.

No matter what type of Alzheimer’s disease your loved one is exhibiting, the data they provide researchers could be crucial to inform future studies and find better treatments.

Finding Clinical Trials

Whether your loved one has just been diagnosed with mild Alzheimer’s disease and still seems to have normal cognition, or has only mild cognitive impairment, or even if he or she has significant decline due to a long progression of the disease, clinical trials are ongoing and actively seeking participants to help find ways to understand and cure this tragic disease.

In recent years clinical research has uncovered breakthrough causes such as brain amyloid formation, tau neurofibrillary tangles, and other mechanisms that contribute to Alzheimer’s disease. With further research, perhaps more causes and their solutions may help prevent the devastation that this disease can cause, as well as provide treatments that can stop Alzheimer’s disease in its earliest stages.

If you are interested in helping with these vital clinical trials, talk to your doctor about ongoing research into Alzheimer’s disease. Your loved one could be part of a group that experiences greatly slowed progression, but even if not they may find purpose and support by adding to the body of knowledge and lifting the veil that has kept this disease a mystery for so long.

Don’t let mild cognitive impairment fool you into thinking that no treatment is needed. Seek out available treatments and clinical trials and give your loved one the best chance of living their best life as long as possible.