NIH supports new studies to find Alzheimer’s biomarkers in Down syndrome

The National Institutes of Health announced a groundbreaking initiative to track dementia onset and the progress of Alzheimer’s disease in people with Down syndrome.

The studies will be funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), both part of NIH.

“We are very excited and grateful that the NIH Biomarkers of Alzheimer’s Disease in Adults with Down Syndrome Initiative has now been established with funding by the National Institute on Aging and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development,” said Dr. Michael Harpold LuMind RDS Chief Scientific Officer.

This initiative represents one of the major recommendations deriving from the 2013 NIH Workshop “Advancing Treatments for Alzheimer’s Disease in Individuals with Down Syndrome” with the participation, co-sponsorship and co-support by the LuMind RDS Foundation. This recommendation was also subsequently incorporated into the Federal National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease.

“This is an extremely important and much needed research initiative to more deeply understand the earlier onset and course of Alzheimer’s disease in individuals with Down syndrome, and the results from this new five year research initiative will also be important in further accelerating clinical trials to develop effective new therapies,” said Dr. Harpold.

View the full press release from NIH here.

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