Acadia Hospital and EMMC Selected for New Alzheimer’s Disease Prevention Clinical Trial
BANGOR, ME— Acadia Hospital and Eastern Maine Medical Center’s Alzheimer’s Disease Clinical Trial Program is proud to announce their selection as a site for a global study of an investigational medication for people who have normal memory function, but who are at high risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease in the future. “We are the only site in northern New England to offer this primary prevention trial. There is reasonable scientific evidence that the study drug is safe and may slow or even prevent Alzheimer’s disease,” states Dr. Clifford Singer, Principal Investigator, Alzheimer’s Disease Clinical Trials Program at Acadia Hospital and Eastern Maine Medical Center (EMMC). “This truly is the dawn of a new era for us as we investigate interventions aimed at dementia prevention.”
Dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by a progressive decline in memory and other thinking abilities severe enough to limit a person’s independent daily function. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia among the elderly, but can also occur earlier in life. The Alzheimer’s Association Facts & Figures report estimates that Maine will see a 29.6% increase in the number of people with Alzheimer’s from 2017 to 2025. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, a treatment introduced in 2025 that delays the onset of Alzheimer’s by five years would cut the number of people in 2050 with the disease by 42 percent.
Acadia Hospital and EMMC Clinical Research Center have been conducting research trials for several years with people who already have symptoms of memory loss and cognitive decline; this is the first time they will be studying interventions to delay cognitive decline in people who do not yet have symptoms.
To find out more, please visit acadiahospital.org or Contact Kristie Miner at 207-973-6986 or kminer@emhs.org. Acadia Hospital invites you to help fulfill their mission of Empowering People to Improve Their Lives by taking action and becoming involved in research opportunities here in Eastern and Central Maine.
