Alzheimer’s disease researcher joins UBC's European Scientific Advisory Board

Leading Alzheimer’s Disease Researcher Will Support UBC’s Continuing Efforts to Improve Data Quality in CNS Clinical Trials

Key points:

• UBC continues to maintain its scientific leadership in the field through its participation in the 2009 International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease (ICAD 2009) in Vienna, Austria.
• United BioSource Corporation (UBC) announces during ICAD 2009 the addition of Professor Winblad to its European Scientific Advisory Board for CNS Clinical Trials

United BioSource Corporation (UBC) announced this summer at ICAD 2009 that Bengt Winblad, MD, PhD has joined its European Scientific Advisory Board for CNS Clinical Trials. Professor Winblad is one of the world’s leading Alzheimer’s disease researchers and currently serves as Professor of Geriatric Medicine and Chief Physician at the Karolinska University Hospital, Huddinge, and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

Prof. Winblad will work with UBC and its European Scientific Advisory Board to support their ongoing efforts to develop new approaches to ensure data quality in CNS clinical trials. Since its inception in 2008, UBC’s European Scientific Advisory board has contributed to new research regarding the methodological challenges in CNS research. Professor Winblad’s experience in Alzheimer’s disease gives the board an opportunity to continue its work of improving outcome measurement by addressing such key challenges as increasing placebo response rates and cultural variance associated with large, multi-national trials.

“A unified approach to enhancing methodology and exploring how we can improve the quality of data collected in clinical trials will help ensure that we are effectively investigating new treatments and expanding the options available to patients and their families suffering from Alzheimer’s disease,” said Prof. Winblad.

In addition to serving as the director of Karolinska Institute of Aging Research Center (ARC), KASPAC (Karolinska Institute Sumitomo Pharmaceutical Alzheimer Center) and the Swedish Brain Power Center of Excellence, Prof. Winblad is presently involved in an array of research activities and he serves as a reviewer of research centers in Europe and the United States. His research interests include epidemiology of dementias, the clinical evaluation and treatment of dementia conditions, especially Alzheimer’s disease, and the molecular genetics, pathology, and biochemistry of dementias. Prof. Winblad has more than 700 original publications in gerontology, geriatrics and dementia research.

“Cognitive and functional measurements in global Alzheimer’s disease clinical trials represent unique challenges,” added David Miller, MD, who leads UBC’s work in Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. “Prof. Winblad’s extensive experience provides us with a unique opportunity to continue to evolve the field.”

Also at ICAD 2009:

• Dr. Miller chaired and spoke at a Featured Research Symposium—“Conducting Global Clinical Trials in Alzheimer's Disease – Challenges and Potential Solutions.” This panel discussion focused on such difficult issues as scale translation; harmonizing training and assessment methodologies within large, multi-year-multi-national studies with high site turnover; standardizing measurement across cultures; the regulatory challenges of global trials; and interventions to ensure reliable data collection.
• UBC presented new research regarding the specific challenges of using the ADAS-Cog and interventions that can help minimize errors in the scale’s administration and scoring. “Analysis of ADAS-Cog Constructional Praxis Scoring Errors” examined how these errors present and how to correct them.
• UBC held a meeting to discuss the Cognition Initiative, a multi-sponsor consortium to develop new measures appropriate for use as end points in international cognition trials. This initiative brings together international experts in cognition to develop new measures to expand the range of outcomes assessed and to address the need for improved measurement sensitivity at mild levels of impairment. Its main focus is the capture of the patient and caregiver perspective on relevant outcomes.

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