17/07/2026
Around 1,600 people will take part in a landmark trial to investigate whether an Alzheimer’s drug could delay or prevent symptoms from ever developing.
We know that changes associated with Alzheimer's disease can begin in the brain many years before symptoms appear. The trial, using an antibody treatment called trontinemab, will now be tested on people without cognitive impairment, but who have increased levels of the biomarker ptau217, which is linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
ptau217 can be detected using a blood test, and if someone has increased levels, indicates they have amyloid beta in the brain – another protein linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
Trontinemab works in a similar way to other antibody treatments, like lecanemab and donanemab, where the antibody recognises and binds with amyloid beta in the brain. But, it has been designed with a protein attached to the antibody, which helps it enter the brain more easily.
These trials are among the most anticipated and exciting developments we have seen in Alzheimer’s research for some time, and we look forward to the results.
Clinical trials are the only way to know whether new treatments work, but breakthroughs will only happen if more people have the opportunity to take part.
In 2025, just 173 people with Alzheimer's disease in England participated in late-stage clinical trials.
We're proud to have invested £3 million in the Alzheimer's Society UK Dementia Trials Network Research Nurses programme.
These specialist nurses are helping connect people with pioneering studies such as the trontinemab trials, supporting them to take part, ensuring more people, and particularly from diverse communities, can play a part in breakthroughs.
Headline via Daily Express.
