Biomarker Predictors of Memantine Sensitivity in Patients With Alzheimer's Disease

The effects of the medication, memantine, on brain functions and the symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease will be tested

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Alzheimer Disease
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Memantine

Detailed Description

Memantine (MEM) is an FDA-approved treatment for Alzheimer's Disease (AD), but its clinical effects vary from person-to-person. We have reported that a "test dose" of MEM significantly enhances early auditory information processing (EAIP) indices of brain function in both healthy adults and psychiatric patients, suggesting that these EAIP measures can be used as "biomarker" evidence that - in a given person - MEM is active within brain circuitry relevant to cognition. This study tests the hypothesis that the EAIP response to a "test dose" of MEM can be used to predict which patients with AD will be most vs. least sensitive to the clinical benefits of this medication over a 24-week trial.

Subjects with mild-to-moderate severity AD who meet criteria for study entry come to UCSD where consenting and a comprehensive screening and diagnostic assessment including a physical exam, EKG, and neuropsychological assessment are conducted. In addition, subjects are assessed on the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale (ADAS-cog), which is the primary clinical outcome measure, and behavioral symptoms documented by the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI-Q) and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), which are secondary assessment measures. Blood is collected in order to assess APOE genotype (rs7412, rs429358) and characterize MEM-sensitive vs. -insensitive patients.

After initial screening, subjects return twice, approximately 7 days apart, for biomarker assessment after challenge with placebo (PBO) or memantine 20 mg po (MEM) in a double-blind, randomized order cross-over design. Subjects are assessed on prepulse inhibition of acoustic startle (PPI), mismatch negativity (MMN) and auditory steady state response (ASSR) as well as AD-relevant cognitive measures via the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS).

Subjects then enter the "treatment phase." MEM is initiated at 5 mg/d and titrated with 5 mg weekly increments. During this time, subjects / caregivers are contacted weekly by study staff to assess adherence. Intervention Week 1 will begin when dosing reaches the full dose of 10 mg bid.

Subjects are reassessed on the primary (ADAS-cog) and secondary (NPI-Q and GDS) outcome measures after 8, 16 and 24 weeks of treatment at the full dose. Subjects are then offered the opportunity to remain at this dose of MEM, or to taper off MEM, under the care of their primary provider.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 53
• Phase: Phase 4

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • San Diego, California, United States, 92103
      • Clinical Teaching Facility (CTF-B102) at UCSD Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 50 years to 83 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion:

1. Alzheimer's Disease Research Center-confirmed diagnosis of AD
2. Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score 10-22 OR a Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA) score of 15-24
3. Age 50-83 y
4. Knowledgeable caregiver
5. Ambulatory
6. Medically stable;
7. Audiometric testing (detection < or = to 45 db(A) at 1000 Hz)
8. Informed consent

Exclusion:

1. Active systemic illness (e.g. heart disease, liver failure, renal insufficiency, cancer, HIV, tuberculosis, Hepatitis C)
2. Current psychiatric or neurologic illness other than AD
3. History of vascular disease, myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular accidents, transient ischemic attack, seizure, head injury with loss of consciousness; substance dependence (including alcohol and Opioid)
4. Past treatment with memantine; unable to tolerate acetylcholinesterase inhibitor
5. Investigational drug treatment < 30 d of screening
6. Current meds: amantadine, riluzole, other pro-cognitive medication, opioids
7. Positive urine toxicology for non-prescribed psychoactive substance
8. Actively enrolled in cognitive remediation therapy

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Other: Memantine; EAIP are assessed 210 (PPI) and 345 min (MMN, ASSR) after administration of placebo or memantine (MEM 20 mg po), in a randomized order double-blind design. In this arm subjects are administered MEM 20 mg. Pills look identical so both the subject and research staff are blind to condition.

Drug: Memantine; Phase 1 will test the acute effects of memantine (20 mg po) vs. placebo (PBO) on early auditory information processing measures in 32 carefully characterized patients with mild-to-moderate severity AD who are not currently taking AD medications. From this "challenge" test, a set of "early auditory information processing memantine sensitivity" measures will be derived for each patient. In Phase 2, all patients will begin an open-label trial of memantine, titrated to 10 mg bid, with outcome measures collected after 8, 16 and 24 weeks of treatment. Medication adjustments are not restricted, and response heterogeneity is anticipated.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change From Baseline Measure in Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale - Cognitive Subscale (ADAS-cog) at 8, 16 and 24 Weeks	The Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Subscale (ADAS-Cog) is a tool used to assess the severity of cognitive impairment in individuals with Alzheimer's disease. It includes 11 tasks that evaluate memory, language, and praxis. The total score can range from 0 to 70 with higher scores indicating more severe impairment.	0, 8, 16, 24 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change From Baseline Measure in Neuropsychiatric Inventory-Questionnaire (NPI-Q) at 8, 16 and 24 Weeks	The NPI-Q measures behavioral symptoms in and is a self-administered questionnaire completed by informants about patients for whom they care. Each of the 12 NPI-Q domains contains a survey question that reflects cardinal symptoms of that domain. Symptoms are rated as present or absent, and if they are present the informant rates the severity of the symptom on a 3-point scale from mild to severe. The sum of severity scores across all 12 items ranges from 0 to 36 with higher scores indicate higher severity of symptoms.	0, 8, 16, 24 weeks

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change From Baseline Measure in Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) at 8, 16 and 24 Weeks	The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) is a self-report measure of depression in older adults using a "Yes/No" format. The GDS consists of 30 items with higher scores indicating greater levels or depression. A score of 0-9 is normal, 10-19 is mild depression, and 20-30 is severe depression.	0, 8, 16, 24 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of California, San Diego
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Neal Swerdlow, M.D., Ph.D., UCSD

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 31, 2019
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 8, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): December 30, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 9, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 10, 2018
• First Posted (Actual): October 12, 2018

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 16, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 3, 2026
• Last Verified: July 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Alzheimer's Disease; Alzheimer Disease; Alzheimer; AD; Alzheimer's
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Mental Disorders; Neurocognitive Disorders; Dementia; Tauopathies; Neurodegenerative Diseases; Alzheimer Disease; Organic Chemicals; Hydrocarbons; Hydrocarbons, Cyclic; Adamantane; Bridged-Ring Compounds; Amantadine; Memantine
• Other Study ID Numbers: R01AG059640-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: Yes
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: Yes