Researchers in Montreal are taking part in an international clinical trial testing whether a drug can delay the onset of Alzheimer’s symptoms in people who show biological signs of the disease but have not yet experienced memory or cognitive decline.
“We’re hoping to keep pushing the front here and eventually make Alzheimer’s much less of a societal concern than (it) is right now,” said Dr. Simon Ducharme, a neuropsychiatrist at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute.
The goal is to intervene before the disease reaches the stage where symptoms become apparent.
The Phase Three trial will see participants receiving an infusion once a month for six months, followed by one every six months for several years. The research could last four to five years.
Researchers are looking to recruit about 1,600 people worldwide between the ages of 55 and 80. In Montreal, researchers expect to screen roughly 150 to 200 people to identify participants eligible for the treatment phase.
The study will target people with unusually high levels of biomarkers associated with Alzheimer’s who are considered at particularly high risk of developing the disease within the next few years.
“Once you start seeing doctors with symptoms, you’ve already stepped foot in a cascade that will be progressive,” Ducharme said.
The experimental treatment is designed to remove amyloid, a protein that can accumulate abnormally in the brain. Ducharme said amyloid buildup can begin 10 to 15 years before memory loss and triggers a cascade involving other changes, including inflammation and eventually the degeneration of brain cells.
Ducharme said the task for researchers now is to find out whether removing amyloid earlier can delay that cascade.
But the treatment’s effectiveness has not yet been established.
Since participants are not yet experiencing cognitive decline — and because not everyone with high amyloid will necessarily develop symptoms during the study — half of the participants will receive a placebo. Researchers will compare the groups over several years to see whether fewer people receiving the treatment develop mild cognitive impairment.
The technology is part of a broader shift in Alzheimer’s research toward identifying and treating the disease before symptoms appear.
Two medications in the same general class were approved by Health Canada in 2026 for people already experiencing symptoms, and can slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.
The way researchers are screening for at-risk participants — via blood tests that can provide evidence of Alzheimer’s-related changes in the brain — is also a new development as well. The diagnostic test has been clinically available for about a year.
Now, Ducharme said, researchers are embarking on the next “logical step”: attempting to treat Alzheimer’s before it happens.
“It’s always better if we can prevent something, than trying to play catch up once the symptoms have started,” he said.
Dr. Simon Ducharme on Oct. 13, 2026 (Zachary Cheung, CityNews)
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