Current Alzheimer’s Research in Hawaii
by Catherine Mitchell, Hawaii Pacific Neuroscience
Aloha! My name is Catherine Mitchell, and I’m Dr. Pat Borman’s clinical research coordinator. We are at the Alzheimer’s Research Unit at the Memory Disorder Center and I am discussing our two clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease.
The first trial is the Agitation in Alzheimer’s Trial. The study medication is an oral pill called AVP-786. The purpose of this trial is to evaluate how AVP-786 works compared to placebo (or sugar pill) in the treatment of agitation in patients with Alzheimer’s. We all know that these are very trying times and there is help. So if you know any kupuna who are showing any agitation just due to the circumstances, please know that we are here to help. For those who are wondering how to volunteer for this trial: you must be at least 50 years old, diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and have a memory score MMSE of 8 to 24. This is a 5-month study, and of course, you must have a reliable caregiver to assist you in the study.
The second trial is our Annovis Trial – Phase I/II. This study medication is called Posiphen, which was created by the National Institute of Health (NIH), and it is in its early stages of clinical trials. Posiphen lowers the levels of neurotoxic proteins such as amyloid beta, tau, alpha-synuclein. These proteins are known to play a role in Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease. It is thought that by lowering these neurotoxic proteins, it will improve your cognitive and motor functions. This trial is being studied in both Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and Parkinson’s Disease (PD). For this trial, you must be at least 45 years old, diagnosed with either AD or PD, and as with our other trial, you must have a study partner to assist you in the study. If you or anyone you know would like to participate in this trial, feel free to call our research hotline at (808) 564-6141 or please email us at info@hawaiineuroscience.com. Hawaii Pacific Neuroscience is located at the old St. Francis Hospital in Liliha on O’ahu.
