Developing Strategies to Improve Recruitment for Clinical Trials Targeting Neuropsychiatric Symptoms (NPS) in Memory Disorders
Chairs: Moyra Mortby, PhD; Paul Rosenberg, MD
Upcoming Activity: Working Group Meeting, 21st Annual Scientific Meeting, 19-21 February 2025, Washington DC
The Developing Strategies to Improve Recruitment for Clinical Trials Targeting Neuropsychiatric Symptoms (NPS) in Memory Disorders working group (WG) will re-convene international investigators in the Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Alzheimer’s disease (NPS-AD) and related dementias field to develop solutions to help improve recruitment of participants into NPS trials in AD and related dementias. At this meeting, the group will review the findings of a recent WG survey and a draft outline of the consensus paper (‘white paper’) to be completed by the end of the 2025 calendar year.
Inaugural Meeting: 20th Annual Scientific Meeting, 21-23 February 2024, Washington DC – View slides, view summary
Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) are a key hallmark of the dementia and are associated with poor clinical prognosis, issues with patient
management/treatment, major caregiver burden, premature institutionalization and higher mortality risk. Despite these major clinical implications, the evidence base for efficacy of interventions remains thin, with currently only one FDA-approved drug. One of the major practical challenges in NPS intervention trials, as well as in other areas of research, is recruitment. Many recent trials have encountered very significant challenges in this area, both in terms of finding a sufficient number of eligible and interested participants and in terms of recruiting diverse cohorts. While NPS researchers share these challenges with the larger AD field, we note there are many challenges specific to the NPS area. The working group will discuss past and future recruitment challenges for trials in NPS-AD and related dementias and brainstorm solutions to draft a consensus paper presenting solutions proposed/workshopped by the group.