Cygnus
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Project Cygnus: A Digital Brain Health Platform for improving outcomes of cognitively impaired patients
IRAS ID
190880
Contact name
Iracemoi Leroi
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
IXICO plc
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 30 days
Research summary
Recent expensive failures in drug development to treat Alzheimer’s disease, the most common dementia, mean new efforts are needed to support those suffering without the hope of a cure. Several academic and industrial research collaborations are commencing, including the MRC Dementia Platform (UK), IMI-EPOC (EU), and DIANE (US). These projects are focused on facilitating studies of new AD treatments. While these research goals are important, they are part of a strategy that will not impact patients for >15 years. This project will aim to establish a digital healthcare platform with 3 aims:
1) To collect standardized data from a large sample of symptomatic patients presenting with memory concerns
2) Post-diagnosis collection of progression data
3) Cost effective evaluation of interventions
The patient group will include those with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and mild dementia, from multiple causes (Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), vascular, lewy body, Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration (FTLD)) who have presented at a Memory Assessment Service. In addition a carer, family member or close friend identified by each participant will also be approached and consented into the study as a 'Study Partner'.
The project will involve basic physical assessments/measurements of participants and will collect data through questionnaires and interviews with both patients and study partners at 3 month follow-ups over the course of 1 year.
Alongside the main study aims, the project will also evaluate the challenges of collecting data from patients with memory conditions.
2 optional sub-studies will also be offered to CYGNUS participants. A wearables sub-study will use an activity tracker to capture participant’s levels of sleep and exercise, whilst a mobile data study will ask participants to submit more regular questionnaire responses from home via an internet enabled device.REC name
London - Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/0354
Date of REC Opinion
24 Mar 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion