Her Alzheimer's Research Includes Her Husband

Harvard University Professor Dorene Rentz has included her husband, Ray Berggren, in a 4.5-year clinical trial on an Alzheimer's treatment that she helped design, reports the Wall Street Journal . The Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer's (A4) study is testing whether the drug solanezumab can retard memory loss in people with elevated levels of amyloid plaque in their brains. The drug failed in previous trials in individuals already diagnosed with symptomatic Alzheimer's, but scientists hope the A4 trial will prove more successful through earlier interventions and quadrupled doses of solanezumab. A total of 1,169 participants 65 to 85 years old are receiving infusions of either solanezumab or a placebo. The double-blind, randomized control trial ensures neither participants nor researchers know who is administered the drug or placebo. Rentz's husband gets treated once a month, and undergoes cognitive testing to assess memory, executive function, and speed of processing in three-month increments. "I can't work in this field for 30 years to help find a cure for Alzheimer's disease and then not be able to help the person I love," Rentz says. The failures of previous anti-amyloid drugs have made the A4 trial particularly significant for researchers.