Deposits of beta amyloid protein in the brain are a common sign of Alzheimer’s disease. AMYPAD will study the value of using positron emission tomography (PET) imaging to scan people’s brains for beta amyloid deposits. AMYPAD will carry out beta amyloid PET imaging on an unprecedented number of people who are suspected to be in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. The goal is to determine the clinical added value of PET imaging in diagnosis and patient monitoring, and to develop data to establish its usefulness in clinical trials. AMYPAD will work closely with IMI’s EPAD project, which is working to increase our understanding of the early stages of dementia and creating a platform to test treatments designed to prevent dementia.
AMYPAD

FACTS & FIGURES
Start Date |
|
End Date |
|
Call |
IMI2 - Call 5
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Grant agreement number |
115952
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Type of Action:
Contributions | € |
---|---|
IMI Funding |
11 999 886
|
EFPIA in kind |
12 233 950
|
Other |
3 095 452
|
Total Cost |
27 329 288
|
Summary
Achievements & News
PET scans that show brain changes caused by Alzheimer’s give doctors confidence in diagnosis
January 2020
Being able to visualise the pathology linked to the disease is a big benefit for diagnosis and patient management. This is what physicians are telling researchers from IMI’s AMYPAD project, which is working to get definitive data on the role of amyloid PET (positron emission tomography) scans in Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis.###
The ability to show patients the presence of amyloid plaque in the brain allows physicians to have ‘more meaningful’ conversations with their patients. Alzheimer’s disease is currently diagnosed based on cognitive symptoms, a clinical examination and a combination of brain scans such as CT or MRI which show structural abnormalities. Amyloid PET scans are a newer technology and researchers from the AMYPAD project are trying to understand in which circumstances these PET scans are best deployed. They also want to find out at what stage in the disease they are most beneficial, and how an early PET scan might lead to a change in patient management.
An ongoing clinical trial is examining how the PET scan influences the diagnosis of patients with cognitive complaints. ‘The hypothesis we are testing in the clinical study is that an early scan leads to a higher confidence in the diagnosis of the patient,' explains AMYPAD co-leader Gill Farrar of GE Healthcare. ‘Physicians involved in the trials are also finding that it is useful to use the images to show the patient the presence or absence of pathology in the brain.’
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Participants Show participants on map
EFPIA companies
- Ge Healthcare Limited, Little Chalfont, United Kingdom
- Janssen Pharmaceutica Nv, Beerse, Belgium
- Life Molecular Imaging LTD, Havant, United Kingdom
Universities, research organisations, public bodies, non-profit groups
- Centre Hospitalier Universitaire De Toulouse, Toulouse Cedex 09, France
- Fundacio Barcelonabeta Brain Research Center, Barcelona, Spain
- Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
- Klinikum Der Universitaet Zu Koeln, Cologne, Germany
- Stichting Katholieke Universiteit, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Stichting Vumc, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- The University Of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- Universite De Geneve, Genève 4, Switzerland
- University College London, London, United Kingdom
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-sized companies (<€500 m turnover)
- Ixico Technologies Limited, London, United Kingdom
- Synapse Research Management Partners SL, Barcelona, Spain
Patient organisations
- Alzheimer Europe, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Third parties
- Region Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden
Participants | |
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Name | IMI funding in € |
Alzheimer Europe | 200 500 |
Centre Hospitalier Universitaire De Toulouse | 803 145 |
Fundacio Barcelonabeta Brain Research Center | 1 417 125 |
Ixico Technologies Limited | 1 196 136 |
Karolinska Institutet | 428 158 |
Klinikum Der Universitaet Zu Koeln | 697 125 |
Stichting Katholieke Universiteit | 175 000 |
Stichting Vumc | 4 699 355 |
Synapse Research Management Partners SL | 557 750 |
The University Of Edinburgh | 519 000 |
University College London | 981 375 |
Third parties | |
Name | IMI funding in € |
Region Stockholm | 325 217 |
Total Cost | 11 999 886 |
Kate Lawman
GE Healthcare
Serge Van Der Geyten
Janssen
LINKS AND DOCUMENTS
Project website
amypad.eu
Twitter
@IMI_AMYPAD