Improving Recruitment to Alzheimer Trials and Lessons From the U.S. POINTER Study: Jessica Langbaum, PhD

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“Enrollment starts as a conversation, and it’s a partnership. Letting people know from the get-go, this is the process, and you might have interest in a clinical trial or this particular study, but we need to run several tests, and you may or may not be eligible for participation in the study based on the test results that we give you.”

At the 18th Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease (CTAD) Conference, held December 1-4, 2025, in San Diego, California, a symposium focused on the U.S. POINTER trial (NCT03688126), a large-scale study that tested whether multidomain lifestyle interventions can help protect cognition in older adults at increased risk for cognitive decline and dementia.¹ Chaired by Heather Snyder, PhD, Rema Raman, PhD, and Kristina McLinden, PhD, the session featured results from 3 ancillary studies: Susan Landau, PhD, presented findings from the imaging ancillary study, Tina E. Brinkley, PhD, on the neurovascular ancillary study, and Laura D. Baker, PhD, with results from the sleep ancillary study.

In an interview at CTAD 2025 with NeurologyLive^®, Alzheimer expert Jessica Langbaum, PhD, discussed the findings from the ancillary studies associated with the U.S. POINTER trial. She noted that baseline amyloid status did not appear to influence participants’ response to multidomain cognitive training, suggesting that benefits may extend across subgroups rather than being limited to a single biologically defined population. Langbaum also reported that structured interventions were associated with modestly greater improvements in sleep and neurovascular measures compared with self-guided approaches, potentially reflecting higher adherence to lifestyle components such as exercise and nutrition.

During the conversation, Langbaum, who serves as the senior director at the Banner Alzheimer's Institute, highlighted the U.S. POINTER study team’s recruitment efforts at the Alzheimer’s Association and emphasized the value participants gained from access to coaching and structured support. She also underscored the importance of improving the scalability and accessibility of intensive lifestyle-based clinical trials to reach broader populations. Collectively, her remarks provided insight into both the biological and practical considerations of implementing multidomain interventions for older adults at risk for cognitive decline.

Click here to view more coverage of CTAD 2025.

REFERENCES
1. The U.S. POINTER Structured Healthy Lifestyle Program — Previously Shown to Improve Cognition — May Also Improve Sleep Apnea, Blood Pressure Regulation, and Cognitive Resilience. News release. Alzheimer’s Association. December 2, 2025. Accessed January 20, 2026. https://www.alz.org/news/2025/us-pointer-healthy-lifestyle-program-may-improve-sleep-apnea-blood-pressure-cognitive-resilience