On 8 and 9 October, the “Amyloid imaging to Prevent Alzheimer’s disease” (AMYPAD) consortium held its annual General Assembly as a virtual meeting. Frederik Barkhof and Gill Farrar, coordinators of the AMYPAD project, kicked off the General Assembly by welcoming over 100 attendees. Following on from the introductory session, the two first sessions were held on the clinical aspects of AMYPAD. The Diagnostic and Patient Management Study (DPMS) has currently reached 819 participants and over 600 amyloid PET scans were performed, since the study was initiated in April 2018. After that, a session was dedicated to the Prognostic and Natural History Study (PNHS). The study comprises collaboration among sites and parent cohorts in several countries across Europe. Currently there are six active cohorts recruiting participants into AMYPAD PNHS. 652 research participants have currently been recruited of which 466 have been scanned. Analysis of the data acquired in both studies has started and preliminary results were presented for both clinical studies. There was also a presentation on the publication strategy and the data access. Following on from this presentation, a roundtable discussion was held on the sustainability of the AMYPAD project. Different approaches on sustainability might be taken and collaborations with related initiatives are being explored. Then, the screen was given in turn to Elisabetta Vaudano (IMI) who gave a feedback on the AMYPAD progress and presented the IMI strategic research agenda. Finally, updates were provided on the management and financials.
On the second day, the AMYPAD consortium gathered for a scientific exchange and discussion. The WP2 “Tracer delivery, PET scanning and image analysis” is led by Juan Domingo Gispert (BarcelonaBeta Brain Research Center) and Chris Buckley (GE Healthcare). They both explained that WP2 has created a task force: Centiloid Working Group. Main findings and ongoing analyses were presented. Next, the floor was given to seven AMYPAD researchers to showcase their respective work in disease modeling. Gill Farrar and Frederik Barkhof then drew the meeting to a close, thanking all the participants for their active contribution to the meeting. Cindy Birck represented Alzheimer Europe at the AMYPAD General Assembly meeting. To keep up to date with AMYPAD’s progress follow @IMI_AMYPAD on Twitter and visit the website http://amypad.eu/. The AMYPAD project has received funding from the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking under grant agreement No 115952. The Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union’s Horizon2020 research and innovation programme and EFPIA.