Cancer research provides a model for advancing clinical trials in dementia in the era of disease-modifying Alzheimer's-type dementia therapies

Cancer research provides a model for advancing clinical trials in dementia in the era of disease-modifying Alzheimer's-type dementia therapies
Alzheimer's Research and Therapy; Gregory A Jicha, Thomas C Tucker, Susanne M Arnold, Peter T Nelson; 8/24
Dementia and cancer are multifactorial, widely-feared, age-associated clinical syndromes that are increasing in prevalence. There have been major breakthroughs in clinical cancer research leading to some effective treatments, whereas the field of dementia has achieved comparatively limited success in clinical research. The lessons of cancer research may help those in the dementia research field in confronting some of the dilemmas faced when the clinical care regimen is not entirely safe or efficacious. There is also evidence from both cancer and dementia research that individuals enrolled in the placebo arms of clinical trials have unexpectedly good outcomes, indicating that participation in clinical trial can have medical benefits to enrollees.