Burke Rehabilitation Hospital in White Plains is recruiting more participants for its 3-year clinical trial to evaluate whether increasing brain thiamine through the use of a new drug can help slow cognitive decline in people with mild Alzheimer”™s disease or mild cognitive impairment.
Thiamine, or vitamin B1, is closely linked to memory and cognition. Many thiamine-dependent processes are diminished in Alzheimer”™s disease, according to Burke Rehabilitation. The goal of the trial is to determine if increasing brain thiamine availability with the investigational drug benfotiamine will minimize the decline in glucose utilization and slow the cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer”™s disease.
Entering its second year, the clinical trial is run by Dr. Barry Jordan, assistant medical director of Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, and Gary E. Gibson, director of the Laboratory for Mitochondrial Biology and Metabolic Dysfunction in Neurodegeneration at Burke Medical Research Institute. The co-investigators are Dr. Pasquale Fonzetti, staff neurologist at Burke Rehabilitation Hospital; Rosanna Cirio, senior clinical research coordinator at Burke Medical Research Institute, and Jessica Franchino-Elder, from the Burke Medical Research Institute.
Despite research advances in Alzheimer”™s and dementia-related diseases, “There are still limited treatments available that can slow the progression of these diagnoses,” Gibson said.
Trial participants must be at least 60 years old and diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s disease. The study will require follow-up visits by participants to Burke Medical Research Institute every 3 months.
There are no costs to participate in the trial, which is supported by the National Institute of Aging and the Alzheimer”™s Drug Discovery Foundation.
For more information on study criteria, visit burke.org/research. To participate, contact Rosanna Cirio at 914-597-2476 or rcirio@burke.org.
