COMMITTED MEMORY TRIAL

And because of quirks in the system for funding drug research, and a history of failed experiments with similar medications conducted by private companies, it required extraordinary coordination among the different stakeholders involved, becoming an exercise in tenacity, teamwork and hope. It was the first time Vanderbilt University had initiated a drug-discovery effort based on early basic science and advanced it into clinical trials in humans without partnering with a pharmaceutical company.

COMMITTED MEMORY TRIAL

That first human trial to investigate the safety and tolerability of VU319 was remarkable for a couple of reasons. The volunteers who were not randomly assigned to receive a placebo were the first humans to ingest VU319, an investigational drug product developed by Vanderbilt researchers to target one of medicine’s most bedeviling challenges: improving memory loss in people with Alzheimer’s disease. There they each swallowed a single capsule and underwent three-and-a-half days of around-the-clock blood tests, EKGs and other close medical monitoring, including cognitive testing. During the course of more than two years-from summer 2017 through fall 2019-52 healthy volunteers checked into the Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center to participate in a clinical trial.

Committed memory