New clinical trial backed by Andy Burnham could speed up Alzheimer's treatments

A new UK clinical trial backed by Prime Minister Andy Burnham aims to accelerate Alzheimer’s drug testing. Burnham said he was proud to support Ad-Smart—Alzheimer’s disease Systematic Multi-arm Adaptive Randomised Trial—after his father Roy Burnham died from the illness in September. The study is led by the UK Dementia Research Institute and Alzheimer’s Research UK, with government funders. Experts say the design could more than halve the time needed to test treatments. Ad-Smart will test multiple drugs in parallel, starting with the type 2 diabetes drug metformin and atomoxetine, used for ADHD, with the possibility to add other therapies over time. About 600,000 people in the UK have Alzheimer’s. The first participants were recruited at Cambridge and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust and Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, with up to 20 NHS sites expected within 18 months.