24 Sep 2001

The National Institute of Aging has awarded $54M over five years, one of its largest-ever grants, to the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study (ADCS). Directed by Leon Thal at the University of California, San Diego, this consortium of centers was formed in 1991 and comprises researchers at 83 sites in the U.S. and Canada. It conducts coordinated clinical treatment and prevention trials and works on developing assessment tools for AD.

To name a few ADCS projects, researcher Mary Sano of Columbia University in New York will direct an upcoming trial of a cholesterol-lowering statin drug to determine it if slows disease progression. An ongoing trial is investigating whether vitamin E or the acetyl cholinesterase inhibitor donepezil can prevent the conversion to AD in some of 700 enrolled patients with mild cognitive impairment.—Gabrielle Strobel

From an NIA press release. For more information, contact cahanv@nia.nih.gov, or go to http://antimony.ucsd.edu.