Clinical research doctors of the TauRx Therapeutics’ global phase III clinical trial for mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease will welcome a US doctor-and-nurse team from the Neurological Associates of Albany clinic to share their experience and expertise in conducting this study with their Russian counterparts in preparation for the study’s launch in Russia.
“We are honoured to have this unique opportunity to share our experience with this clinical research study with our counterparts in Russia,” sayd Richard Holub, a neurologist and a leading principal investigator for the TauRx clinical research study. “As a global clinical research community, we are all striving for the same goal – to find a treatment that slows or halts the progression of Alzheimer’s disease – and this collaboration reflects that shared objective. By sharing our knowledge with the Russian clinical team we hope to impart our experience which they can then integrate into their own centres as the clinical research study kicks off there.”
Holub and Sue Brignull, a nurse specialist at the clinic, have screened and enrolled more than 30 mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease patients into TauRx Therapeutics’ phase III clinical trials since the studies launched in the USA in late 2012. Their background and commitment to the clinical studies prompted TauRx Therapeutics to invite them to speak to principal investigators in Russia about the practical “nuts & bolts” of conducting this trial, identifying eligible patients and supporting study participants in their journey through the clinical research process. Holub has been asked to provide insights and advice on diverse issues from the screening process through study completion.
The phase III trial is one of two studies evaluating the use of LMTX, a tau aggregation inhibitor that targets “tau tangles” in the brain. If the findings of the large scale global studies are consistent with the earlier phase 2 study, they could provide the first definitive data on a tau-based treatment that dissolves the tangles and slows or halts Alzheimer’s disease. The studies culminate three decades of research by Professor Claude Wischik and colleagues at TauRx Therapeutics. In total, the two large, phase 3 studies will involve over 1,500 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s in more than 20 countries.
