UCSF will be leading a “platform trial” of three medications (and potentially more) for progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP).
In an early September 2024 press release about the trial, principal investigator Dr. Adam Boxer at UCSF’s Memory & Aging Center said:
“Unlike typical clinical trials, platform trials can remain open with multiple new therapies tested in successive cycles if the first ones don’t work. … This means there are more opportunities to identify effective treatments in a faster timeframe, with lower cost and less burden to participants. Patients on the PSP trial will have a 75% chance of treatment with an active drug and after one year, all participants will have the opportunity to receive a drug.”
The study will focus on enrolling PSP patients who are underrepresented in clinical trials — Spanish-speakers and African Americans. Enrollment is expected to begin in the fall of 2025 at UCSF and 50 other sites, including UCSD and Massachusetts General Hospital. The trial will be open to patients with Richardson’s syndrome who have had symptoms for fewer than five years. Patients must be accompanied by a care partner.
The trial is made possible by a five-year grant of up to $75.4 million from the National Institute on Aging, which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Richardson’s syndrome affects a majority of patients with PSP. The reason patients with Richardson’s syndrome are targeted by studies is that the diagnostic accuracy with Richardson’s syndrome is higher than with other types of PSP.
Read the full UCSF press release here
Dr. Adam Boxer described the “platform trial” in his August 2024 webinar on PSP research with Brain Support Network.