A bold new initiative is set to transform the landscape of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) diagnosis and treatment across Europe. King's College London has proudly announced the launch of an ambitious project aimed at speeding up the integration of scientific advancements into practical solutions for managing Alzheimer's.
The ACCESS-AD consortium, co-led by King's College London alongside Amsterdam UMC, Siemens Healthineers, and Gates Ventures, has secured funding from the European Commission's Innovative Health Initiative. With an impressive initial budget exceeding €37 million allocated over five years, King's College London specifically will receive €2.8 million to further this vital cause.
As the number of individuals affected by Alzheimer's continues to surge, projections indicate that by 2050, more than 19 million people in Europe could be living with this condition. The current situation is already overwhelming healthcare systems, leading to significant delays in essential services such as diagnostic tests, brain imaging, and structured clinical follow-ups. These delays can ultimately result in late treatment and poorer health outcomes for patients.
ACCESS-AD tackles these pressing issues head-on, aiming to expedite innovation while ensuring that patients have fair access to timely and effective care. The initiative will create a cohesive approach that combines advanced brain imaging, blood-based biomarkers, digital monitoring tools, AI-powered decision support, and real-world evidence to facilitate a smooth patient journey. This comprehensive design seeks to hasten the process of confirming diagnoses, safely administer disease-modifying treatments (DMTs), and extend access to cutting-edge innovations beyond specialized medical centres, reaching primary care facilities and underserved communities.
"By merging technological advancements with economic, ethical, regulatory, and patient-focused perspectives, we are committed to paving a sustainable, scalable, and equitable route for the rollout of new diagnostics and therapies for Alzheimer's disease," states Professor Dag Aarsland, who leads the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing at King's College London and shares the clinical leadership of the project.
A key element of ACCESS-AD is the integration of sophisticated yet accessible neuroimaging techniques with a broader application of fluid and digital biomarkers. This innovative approach will enable early and precise identification of patients, allowing for timely diagnoses and entry into tailored treatment pathways, which may encompass DMTs, focused lifestyle changes, and nutritional strategies. Furthermore, ACCESS-AD intends to expand access to advanced tools that have traditionally been confined to prestigious centres of excellence, such as expedited MRI procedures, quantitative amyloid PET/CT imaging, and automated safety monitoring systems.
Dr. Richard Siow, the Director of Ageing Research at King's and a consortium co-investigator, underscores the collaborative potential of ACCESS-AD: "By uniting academic, clinical, and industry experts from across Europe, we aim to uncover novel personalized lifestyle changes and therapeutic interventions that can help prevent cognitive decline and encourage healthy aging of the brain within the population."
An integral part of ACCESS-AD is its pan-European Alzheimer’s registry, which will utilize the established InRAD platform to gather real-world data from over 500 patients spanning various healthcare systems. This registry will track safety, clinical progress, and treatment outcomes in typical clinical settings. It will also support a pilot study exploring the feasibility of combining DMTs with a comprehensive lifestyle intervention and nutritional supplement approach.
Understanding the necessity for equitable and scalable implementation, ACCESS-AD incorporates health-economic modeling, regulatory development, ethical considerations, and sustainability analyses. To ensure that patient and caregiver perspectives are central to the project, European Patient Advisory Boards will be actively involved throughout the initiative. ACCESS-AD builds upon previous IHI projects such as PROMINENT, PREDICTOM, AD-RIDDLE, and EPND, ensuring that advancements in early detection, biomarker research, and data infrastructure lead to better diagnosis, treatment, and overall care.
Dr. Zunera Khan, who leads the research portfolio at the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing at King's, emphasizes the project's transformative nature: "ACCESS-AD is merging state-of-the-art diagnostics with customized treatment strategies that can be applied on a large scale. By integrating neuroimaging with fluid and digital biomarkers, we can identify individuals at risk sooner and guide them into personalized treatment plans that combine disease-modifying therapies with lifestyle and dietary strategies."
Professor Mariam Molokhia, a clinical epidemiologist and GP involved in primary care and epidemiology at King's, serves as a Consortium Co-investigator and is leading the clinical studies.
This groundbreaking initiative is backed by the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking under grant agreement No 101253010, receiving additional support from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation program as well as contributions from COCIR, EFPIA, Europa Bío, MedTech Europe, and Vaccines Europe.
