Burke Neurological Institute Receives a $45 Million NIH Grant to Study a Vitamin B1 Precursor for Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease in Multi-center Clinical Trial
Summary
This follow-up trial will expand on previous work completed at BNI, suggesting that high levels of benfotiamine significantly slowed the rate of functional decline in participants with mild cognitive impairment or early AD.This press release features multimedia. Previous work by Burke Neurological Institute/Weill Cornell Medicine researcher Dr. Gary E. Gibson, who will also be a leader of the upcoming clinical trial, suggested that reduction in glucose metabolism is due to a decline in thiamine-dependent processes. If our hypothesis is correct, we will advance an exciting investigative clinical treatment pathway relevant for millions of patients, and with potential advantages in safety and value.These foundational experiments led to a recent pilot study, published in the Journal of Alzheimers Disease in 2020 and carried out by Dr. Gibson along with research partners at Weill Cornell Medicine, Burke Rehabilitation Institute, and Columbia University Irving Medical Center. The study suggested a slowed rate of cognitive decline in 35 participants with mild MCI or early AD who took 300-mg benfotiamine pills twice daily, and the treatment was completely safe.The larger upcoming clinical trial will be carried out in collaboration with leading researchers in AD and related dementias; Dr. Howard Feldman, director of the Alzheimers Disease Cooperative Study (ADCS) at the University of California, San Diego and Dr. Jose Luchsinger, investigator at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. BNI is also pleased to collaborate with C2N Diagnostics (St. Louis, MO), a company focused on advanced brain health diagnostics.There is enormous unmet need regarding both treatment and prevention of AD in the growing and aging population.