Alzheimer’s trial to test drug on people without symptoms to see if it can be prevented
For the first time in Europe, an experimental Alzheimer's drug is being offered to people who feel entirely well, in the hope of stopping the disease before it starts. The PrevenTRON trial is recruiting about 1,600 volunteers aged 55 to 80 worldwide, with UK screening run through an NHS trust in Surrey. Participants must first show they have no memory problems, then take a blood test for p-tau217, a marker whose highest levels have been linked to a 78% chance of cognitive impairment within 10 years. Whether the drug can actually prevent dementia is exactly what the trial exists to answer, so no one should expect results soon. If it works, it would shift Alzheimer's from a disease you treat to one you head off in advance.
For you: Nothing to act on yet, but worth knowing that dementia research is moving towards treating risk before symptoms, and that a blood test for that risk already exists.
What it shows: Reported by Guardian (health) and not verified by us: we could not trace this story to a published paper, so treat it as news rather than evidence we have checked.