A Las Vegas stronghold in neurology is contributing to a new study spanning multiple states and countries related to the detection and diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.
Clinical Neurology Specialists in Las Vegas has partnered with the Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation for the latter’s Bio-Hermes-002 study, offering Southern Nevadans the opportunity to participate in research that has the potential to make a difference in how new therapies for Alzheimer’s and related dementias are explored.
“Using Bio-Hermes-002 protocol will allow us to bridge the gap of information, which will allow us to establish faster diagnosis and to establish the proper diagnosis,” said Leo Germin, medical director at Clinical Neurology Specialists (CNS). “Not only that, it will allow in the future, to create … new treatment modalities, and it probably will be the next step which the folks are looking for.”
The Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation (GAP) was created to undertake clinical trials to find a therapy or cure for Alzheimer’s disease that were better, faster and more effective, said John Dwyer, the organization’s president.
Bio-Hermes-001 was a blood marker and digital cognitive biomarker study that was ultimately used to underpin the first clearance of a blood test for measurement of pathology associated with Alzheimer’s by the Food and Drug Administration, Dwyer said.
That study came about as a result of COVID-19 and the need to better understand the underlying science of how to detect disease, Dwyer said, and how to characterize the people recruited for GAP’s studies and ensure they were a fit for their clinical trials.
GAP focused on new technology like advanced digital cognitive tests, which can measure whether someone’s memory concerns are consistent with normal aging or potential signs of disease, and blood markers, tests that could shed light on whether someone has Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s diseases, he said.
While Bio-Hermes-001 was sufficient, however, its answer also raised more questions.
“We realized there were still many more pathologies, many more blood tests, many more digital, AI-driven technologies that we should be testing to see if they’re really good and if they could help us in conducting clinical trials faster and better for Alzheimer’s and related neurological disease,” Dwyer said.
That’s what Bio-Hermes-002 seeks to accomplish.
“We amped up our game, and we are now undertaking this study to provide what’s one of the most complicated biomarkers studies Alzheimer’s has ever undertaken,” Dwyer said. “We’re proud of that.”
Meanwhile in Las Vegas, CNS has been interested in doing clinical research but struggled to find a fitting sponsor until GAP reached out. Germin said he was very intrigued by Bio-Hermes-002, as biomarkers are something CNS has been interested in working with among patients with neurodegenerative disorders, particularly the dementias.
“As soon as we learned that not only are they willing to partner with us, but also will provide certain strategic and logistical help — we decided that we are extremely interested in working with them, and I decided that it might be the good approach for the practice,” Germin said. “Because, as a neurologist, we see a sizable number of the patients with neurodegenerative disorders.”
When a patient reports memory issues, doctors may use a number of different tests to find the cause. Digital biomarkers have reshaped the landscape of Alzheimer’s disease by making its detection more efficient, objective and specific, Germin said.
“New biomarkers, which are implemented by the GAP, help to determine what it might be on a molecular level,” Germin said. “Which is a breakthrough in terms of the patient (diagnosis), No. 1, and when you have a diagnosis, you can have treatment options and you have a prognosis.”
CNS’s clinical stability and credibility, its tenure and established trust in the community and its multiple locations in Henderson and the Summerlin area — where there’s a sizable population of older adults — are just a few of the reasons Germin listed for its compatibility with the study.
The practice’s board-certified neurologists also understand complex neurodegenerative syndromes, can perform high-quality clinical phenotyping and interpret cognitive and neurological endpoints — crucial for correlating biomarker results with a clinical diagnosis, Germin said.
For such a large metropolitan area, Dwyer said, Las Vegas isn’t doing much in the way of clinical research.
“It’s amazing how impressive the range of people and the number of people that would probably benefit from research is in Vegas, and the small amount of clinical research that takes place in Vegas,” Dwyer said. “It’s a very large metropolitan area and doesn’t have a lot of folks doing clinical research for the size of the population.”
That was one of the initial reasons for GAP’s interest in coming to the region, he said, another being the organization’s evolving relationship with UNLV. It’s the first study of its kind in not just Las Vegas but Nevada overall, Dwyer said.
Alzheimer’s is highly correlated with the same communities that also have elevated levels of hypertension, cardiac disease and diabetes, Dwyer said. Las Vegas offers GAP a melting pot of different ethnicities, a broad range of lifestyles and medical conditions that the organization can help, he said.
“So, we’re really excited that we can come into Vegas and give state-of-the-art research to a great city and a diverse community that isn’t being exposed to this kind of science the way we’re doing it, and try to help them and raise the community’s awareness more broadly,” he said. “It’s also our opportunity to work with good docs.”
CNS has already been able to recruit patients for the study, and Germin said he predicts it will be successful and accomplish one of the most crucial tasks of a neurologist.
“Apply the clinical science, apply the ongoing technology, apply the rapidly changing … marketplace to be clinical benefits of the patients who definitely reap the rewards of having (an) intentionally known research company providing to them, not only information, which they definitely need, but also people to provide it free of charge,” he said.
Study participants receive very valuable information about their health at no cost, Dwyer said.
“We’re going to tell our participants at the end of the study what exactly was going on with them, as best as we can tell, and they’re going to be really well informed about their own condition and be able to understand what they can do next,” he said.
The study will explain clinical presentation in a formal diagnosis to the patient and their family, and provide them the future pathway for treatment as well as prognosis, Germin said.
In partnering with GAP in the Bio-Hermes-002 study, CNS can provide a direct pathway for the patients who will benefit from the opportunities of this unique clinical trial, Germin said. Tens of thousands of Nevadans are living with Alzheimer’s today, he said.
Las Vegas is joining the ranks of some of “the best clinical trial sites in the country,” Dwyer said, with 24 total across seven states and three countries.
“Vegas is now on the map as a place where you can find people well prepared to do state-of-the-art research, and people that are in a community that can support trying to contribute to finding therapies and cures for Alzheimer’s and related dementias,” he said.