Ana Pereira, MD: Studying Riluzole in Alzheimer Disease

Video

The assistant professor of neurology and neuroscience at Mount Sinai Medical Center discussed the literature that influenced a pilot trial of riluzole in Alzheimer disease.

“The combination of the preclinical data, which was promising, made me as a clinician-scientist want to translate that into the clinic and test these hypotheses in a clinical trial.”

At the recent virtual Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation International Conference, Ana Pereira, MD, assistant professor of neurology and neuroscience, Mount Sinai Medical Center, presented data from a clinical pilot trial of riluzole in patients with Alzheimer disease. All told, the trial met its primary end point, with fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-positron emission tomography (PET) measures showing significantly less decline in areas of interest in the brain.

There were no signs of change in the N-acetylaspartate, as measured by magnetic resonance spectroscopy Although, the second outcome measure showed a strong correlation between cognitive measures and FDG-PET brain metabolism with riluzole treatment. The results are still not enough to recommend off-label use, however, Pereria and colleagues noted.

Pereira and colleagues concluded that the data support a larger and longer clinical trial to evaluate riluzole’s potential as a treatment in Alzheimer. This work, Pereria told NeurologyLive, was influenced by a number of data indicating that blocking glutamatergic neurotransmission may offer a therapeutic approach to the disease. Pereira expanded on what these influences were and what ultimately prompted her to study the agent in this interview.

Recent Videos
Mikael Cohen, MD
Robert J. Fox, MD; Andreas Muehler, MD, MBA
1 KOL is featured in this series.
1 KOL is featured in this series.
Wallace Brownlee, MBChB, PhD, FRACP
© 2024 MJH Life Sciences

All rights reserved.