Synexus HealthyMinds Registry (Synexus HMR) is a collaboration between the University of Exeter in the UK and Accelerated Enrollment Solutions (AES), a business unit of the Wilmington, NC-based contract research organization (CRO) PPD.
The collaboration initially aims to register 30,000 adults aged 50 or older in the US without signs of dementia for a five-year study that will examine lifestyle and genetic risk factors affecting cognitive function.
To be conducted fully online, the study – now open – will include annual cognitive assessments, lifestyle and medical questionnaires, and free brain training games.
“Synexus HMR will provide valuable information about how the brain changes with age, investigate which combination of factors such as exercise and diet really work, and promote how to best encourage people to adopt these practices,” Dawie Wessels, MD, MBA, chief medical officer, Accelerated Enrollment Solutions (AES), told us.
Participants also may be presented with opportunities to join clinical trials, enrollment for which will be managed by AES and focused on areas surrounding Synexus sites and major Alzheimer’s research facilities, he explained.
Wessels said, “Research is urgently needed to identify potential methods of prevention and possible treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.”
Alzheimer’s is the sixth-leading cause of death in the US, and approximately 5.7 million Americans are currently living with the disease. This number is projected to grow to 14 million by 2050, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
Alzheimer’s and other dementias will cost the US $290bn this year – and up to $1.1tn by 2050.