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. 2018;5(3):171-174.
doi: 10.14283/jpad.2018.23.

What Have We Learned from Expedition III and EPOCH Trials? Perspective of the CTAD Task Force

P S Aisen  1 , E Siemers, D Michelson, S Salloway, C Sampaio, M C Carrillo, R Sperling, R Doody, P Scheltens, R Bateman, M Weiner, B Vellas
Affiliations

What Have We Learned from Expedition III and EPOCH Trials? Perspective of the CTAD Task Force

P S Aisen et al. J Prev Alzheimers Dis. 2018.

Abstract

Although the results were disappointing from two recent clinical trials of amyloid-targeting drugs in mild-to-moderate AD, the trials provided information that will be important for future studies, according to the EU-US CTAD Task Force, which met in November 2017 to discuss the EXPEDITION3 and EPOCH trials. These trials tested two of the predominant drug development strategies for AD: amyloid immunotherapy and BACE inhibition in populations largely composed of mild AD dementia patients. The results of these trials support the emerging consensus that effective amyloid-targeted treatment will require intervention in early, even pre-symptomatic stages of the disease. Further, the Task Force suggested that a refinement of the amyloid hypothesis may be needed and that other hypotheses should be more fully explored. In addition, they called for improved biomarkers and other outcome assessments to detect the earliest changes in the development of AD.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; therapeutic trials.

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Conflict of interest statement

At the time of the Task Force meeting, DM was a full-time employee of Merck, Inc. and ES was a full-time employee of Eli Lilly and Company, and currently holds stock in the company. The Task Force was partially funded by registration fees from industrial participants. These corporations placed no restrictions on this work

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