Cogstate

FDA Advisory Committee voted unanimously to recommend the approval of Donanemab for treating early Alzheimer’s disease, highlighting its effectiveness in slowing cognitive decline as demonstrated in the Phase 3 TRAILBLAZER-ALZ 2 trial. If approved, Donanemab will provide a new disease-modifying treatment option for patients and their families. Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/erxFTKbB 

A recently published study from Monash University’s Healthy Brain Project highlights a crucial link between neighborhood characteristics and an individual's risk of developing dementia. 🌳 Using the Cogstate Brief Battery as one of the measurement tools, researchers found that living closer to green spaces lowers dementia risk and living in areas with lower crime was associated with better memory performance. 🌍 This research highlights the pivotal role of thoughtful urban planning as well as the need for equitable access to healthy environments to improve #BrainHealthForAll. Read the full study by Cavuoto et al here: https://lnkd.in/e5gVnJKR #DementiaPrevention #Cognition #PublicHealth #Cogstate

The British Journal of Hematology recently published David Kuter’s paper, “Cognitive Impairment Among Patients with Chronic Immune Thrombocytopenia,” with data from the Cogstate Brief Battery being used to look at the nature and severity of cognitive impairment in ITP. “The objective evidence of cognitive slowing gathered during this study supports the reports of difficulties in thinking that come from patients with ITP, their families, or their treating doctors,” said paper co-author and Cogstate Chief Innovation Officer, Paul Maruff. “These data also provide a strong foundation for the design of studies aimed at determining how new treatments for ITP, might impact this important clinical symptom.” Read the full paper here > https://lnkd.in/etkxAnTb

Training burden can be extremely high for clinical trial raters. In this 2-min video, Dr. Pam Ventola outlines a methodology called a Rater Academy that can be adopted to reduce the burden on sites and raters while maintaining quality data outcomes. In this model, raters certify at a gold standard one time and then participate across multiple trials in a clinical program without the need for recertification. Check out the efficiency data presented in this video 👉 https://lnkd.in/eb3jaywn

Recent findings from the Healthy Brain Project explore how multiple simultaneous modifiable dementia risk factors (MDRFs) relate to Alzheimer’s Disease biomarkers and to cognitive performance. Data published by Lisa Bransby, et al, in “Neurobiology in Aging” connect having multidomain MDRFs to poorer cognition, indicating the importance of a comprehensive approach to health practices in midlife to mitigate dementia risk. Researchers leveraged the Cogstate International Shopping List Test and Groton Maze Learning Tests as important measures of memory and executive function within the study. Read more from the study here > https://lnkd.in/e6CcW3pf

In Schizophrenia clinical trials, improvement in cognition is often seen in both the treatment and placebo groups. Cogstate Senior Scientist, Dr. Svenja Wacker, recently presented data at #ISCTM evaluating whether placebo response or practice effects could be contributing factors. Data gathered from a clinical trial of adults with chronic Schizophrenia showed that no practice effects were observed across a battery of Cogstate digital tests, even when tests were repeated at short intervals. Watch this poster summary to see the data and learn more: https://lnkd.in/eyrZBPXq

The Groton Maze Learning Test (GMLT) is a powerful tool to assess the problem-solving and reasoning aspects of executive function 🧠. The GMLT is digital, non-verbal, and highly sensitive to the effects of disease and drugs in both clinical application and clinical trial contexts. This Cogstate-version of a standardized maze-learning cognitive paradigm is used across all phases of trials, notably in several late-phase schizophrenia programs such as the PEARL-3 lurasidone studies and novel CAR T-cell oncology research. 🌟 More details on how the GMLT assesses cognition, and the many other digital cognitive assessments offered on the Cogstate platform- https://lnkd.in/e53Wt6tC #Cognition #BrainHealthForAll #Neuroscience

Recently Cogstate CSO, Dr. Pam Ventola, was asked to describe ways to mitigate placebo response in rare disease trials. She answers the query in this brief video, describing the significance of comprehensive education for both site staff and caregivers with an approach of integrating objective outcomes and placebo response training to enhance the reliability of trial results > https://lnkd.in/d2pxdemF

If using digital, non-invasive tests in a matter of minutes to detect cognitive decline sounds simple—that’s because it is (and that’s the goal). Cogstate was founded to democratise brain health and make it easier for physicians and patients to detect decline earlier, and track it over time. With therapeutics in the mix, getting the diagnostic process started early is paramount for solutions to be most effective. I’m proud of my colleagues for their determination to ensure #BrainHealthforAll. Thanks to Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative for including me and noting Cogstate’s cognitive tests in this series. We’re on the precipice of major change in the industry. By transforming the patient journey through low-cost tools that free up physicians’ time, we’ll ease the diagnostic process—making sure more people get the care they need. https://lnkd.in/gFYcHAgX

Developing a framework to decide whether to continue or stop your drug development efforts in Alzheimer’s disease is vital to avoid wasting time and resources on an ineffective drug. Here we summarize a publication by Wessels, A.M. et al. (2021) in "Drug Discovery Today" discussing how researchers can use a combination of methods and tools to develop algorithms to make informed decisions about whether to continue or halt the development of a potential drug. 📈 From target engagement to digital biomarkers, click through to learn how to combine various methods to tailor your trial's Go/No-Go criteria.