Hoag’s Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute has started recruiting volunteers for a study testing an investigational treatment that aims to help prevent the earliest stages of memory loss due to Alzheimer’s disease.

Funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Eisai Inc., a U.S. subsidiary of Eisai Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Tokyo), the AHEAD Study is the first Alzheimer’s disease research study to recruit people as young as 55 years old who are at risk of developing symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease as they get older. It introduces a personalized approach that will tailor treatment dosing levels to a participant’s particular risk of memory loss related to Alzheimer’s disease.

The AHEAD Study consists of two different clinical trials testing the same investigational treatment (known as BAN2401 (lecanemab)). Participants are enrolled in one of the two trials based on the level of amyloid in their brain. Amyloid is a protein that builds up in people who can go on to have memory problems and develop Alzheimer’s disease.