LONDON: Cambridge Cognition Holdings Plc (AIM: COG), which develops and markets digital solutions to assess brain health, will be collaborating with the University of Oxford by providing cognitive assessments for the Impact of Semaglutide in Amyloid Positivity (“ISAP”) study.
As a consequence Cambridge Cognition expects to receive validation data for its voice-based solution, NeuroVocalixTM. The randomised controlled trial, sponsored by the University of Oxford and funded by Novo Nordisk, aims to investigate the effectiveness of a diabetes medication (oral semaglutide) against the neuropathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease (specifically, tau accumulation and neuroinflammation).
Alzheimer’s disease is characterised by the abnormal build-up of amyloid and tau proteins in the brain1, which can occur years before clinical symptoms such as memory loss are detected. More than 57.4 million people worldwide are living with dementia and, without new therapeutics to slow or halt disease progression, this number is expected to grow to 152.8 million by 20502. To assess the potential for a new therapeutic approach, the University of Oxford has launched the ISAP study.
The ISAP study will focus on developing a treatment for the earliest signs of Alzheimer’s disease by recruiting participants who are at increased risk of developing dementia. Semaglutide is a diabetes medication that animal studies suggest could reduce phospho-tau accumulation and improve cognitive function3. The ISAP study will track whether semaglutide can reduce participants’ tau pathology and neuroinflammation over the course of a year by repeating MRI and PET imaging at the start of the study and 52 weeks. To accurately assess cognitive change, participants will be asked to perform Cambridge Cognition’s digital assessments, CANTABTM and NeuroVocalixTM, at the start of the study, week 26 and week 52.
This trial will combine both touchscreen and voice-based cognitive assessments to track the earliest signs of dementia and the extent to which semaglutide can slow or halt disease progression. The University of Oxford has selected Cambridge Cognition as a cognitive assessment partner for this trial because the company offers several sensitive measures of cognitive processes that are compromised in early Alzheimer’s disease.
Matthew Stork, Chief Executive Officer of Cambridge Cognition, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with the University of Oxford to develop better treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. We are particularly pleased to be including our voice solution, NeuroVocalix™, as we believe it could help track the earliest cognitive indicators of dementia and this study is an important step as we gather further validation data. We have seen strong early uptake of NeuroVocalix™ following launch to the academic community last year and more than 20 institutions are using it.”
Ivan Koychev, Chief Investigator of ISAP, said:
“The ISAP study paves the way for novel and much needed therapies for Alzheimer’s disease. Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist medications such as semaglutide are particularly promising given the emerging evidence of reduced dementia incidence in patients who take them as part of their diabetes treatment. We are grateful to our commercial partners Novo Nordisk and Cambridge Cognition for their support of this study.”