Tampa Seniors Needed for Alzheimer's Study

The U.S. National Institutes of Health and Japanese drugmaker Eisai are seeking Tampa Bay, Fla., residents 55 and older to volunteer for a research study that aims to delay or prevent symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, reports the Tampa Bay Times . The AHEAD Study is the first Alzheimer's trial to recruit participants as young as 55 at risk of developing symptoms. Researchers intend to treat people with personalized doses of antibodies based on the volume of amyloid proteins in their brain at the study's outset. "Right now, it's estimated that we are somewhere between 5 and 6 million people in this country who are suffering from Alzheimer's disease, and we really think, unfortunately, that's the tip of the iceberg," said Harvard Medical School Professor Reisa Sperling. Participants will get intravenous doses of the antibodies every month while being tracked for four years, with 10 or 11 of the 100 study sites to be in Florida. "We think by intervening decades before, we can really bend the curve," said Sperling. "And hopefully, instead of dying in nursing homes, they can die out ballroom dancing, living independently, because that's what we all want."