Clinical trial for Alzheimer's vaccine to begin at Brigham and Women's Hospital

Nov. 17—A first-of-its-kind clinical trial that will test a nasal vaccine for Alzheimer's disease is actively recruiting participants at Brigham and Women's Hospital in what could be a game-changing treatment.

"If clinical trials in humans show that the vaccine is safe and effective, this could represent a nontoxic treatment for people with Alzheimer's, and it could also be given early to help prevent Alzheimer's in people at risk," said Dr. Howard Weiner, co-director of the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at the Brigham, who will lead the research.

The vaccine is given nasally and works by stimulating the immune system and activating white blood cells in the lymph nodes. The stimulated cells will travel into the blood and brain to clear out toxins and abnormal plaques which are major hallmarks of Alzheimer's.

The trial will mark 20 years of Weiner's research and the first human trial of a nasal vaccine for Alzheimer's.

Weiner said vaccines are typically given orally, by injection or intranasally. He and his colleagues found the nasal administration offered the best results. He added that the team has not seen any major side effects from the vaccine.

The clinical trial will start in a couple of weeks and will include 16 people receiving different doses to determine the best one.

The participants will be between 60 and 85 years old with early, symptomatic Alzheimer's disease. They will get two vaccine doses one week apart.

Weiner said that process will take about six months and then a second trial with 150 people will start, which will measure efficacy and last about a year.

Weiner told the Herald the vaccine "can help with the disease and even more importantly, it can be given to people who are at risk for the disease or have it and don't know it."

He said many people in their 50s and 60s have normal cognition, but brain imaging shows signs of Alzheimer's developing. The vaccine could help such patients.

Patients can find out if they are high risk for Alzheimer's disease via brain imagining or new blood tests that are making their way onto the market. There are some genetic components to Alzheimer's risk, but they can be sporadic, according to Weiner.

Until now, doctors and researchers have known very little about Alzheimer's and what causes the tragic disease. But Weiner said recent research into the Alzheimer's mechanism has led to increased understanding, which paves the way for new medical treatments.

"I'm hoping that after we do these phase 1, phase 2 and phase 3 trials we might get it on the market so that doctors could prescribe it maybe five or six years from now," Weiner told the Herald.

Then down the road, Weiner said hopefully the vaccine could be used for prevention of the disease in large segments of the population.

More than six million Americans are living with Alzheimer's, and one in three seniors dies with the disease or another dementia.

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