The Regents of the University of California, San Francisco
The Regents of the University of California, San Francisco
Brain Health Registry Trial-Ready Cohort
Identifying and screening subjects for Alzheimer's trials is currently difficult, time-consuming and expensive. The Brain Health Registry is designed to address these challenges by making clinical trials for neurological disorders faster, less expensive and more effective. The internet-based Registry relies on volunteers to provide information about their medical history, family history, mood, diet and lifestyle. These questionnaires draw on well-validated mechanisms, covering a wide range of typical inclusion and exclusion criteria for clinical trials. The Registry also uses well-validated and engaging online neurological assessment tools to collect information about each registrant's cognitive functioning. Because registrants are expected to return every 3-6 months, the Registry collects data (from questionnaires and the cognition exams) at regular intervals. The result is longitudinal data from a large, well-characterized and trial-ready cohort. This can make trial recruitment faster and less expensive; it can also facilitate the identification and selection of subjects showing early signs of cognitive decline. If successful, the Registry can lead to significant reductions in the time and cost associated with clinical trials, including the very early stage trials necessary to accelerate the development of potential Alzheimer's therapies.Recruitment efforts are not disease-specific, nor do they focus on potential participants who may be in a disease or symptomatic state. The result is a Registry that is a rich mix of healthy and impaired, and a rich mix of ages. The unifying factor: All will have expressed an interest in brain health.Qualified academic investigators will be able to access Brain Health Registry data for use in their own research on brain disorders and brain aging. The team is currently developing an investigator's portal to facilitate this work.