Personalized TMS leads to 44% slowing of Alzheimer’s progression at 1 year
Treatment with non-invasive, personalized repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in those with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s resulted in a 44% slowing of disease progression at 52 weeks, according to the manufacturer.
Study results were presented at the Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease conference in Madrid.
Sinaptica Therapeutics Inc. reported the positive results from a phase 2, single center, randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled, year-long clinical trial investigating safety and efficacy of neuronavigated repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) that focused on the Default Mode Network (DMN), the primary neural network impacted by AD, in a press release.
The trial, whose primary outcome measure was change from baseline to week 52 of the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale–Sum of Boxes (CDR-SB), included 48 individuals with mild to moderate AD symptoms. A total of 32 patients completed the entire 52-week course.
Treatment tailored to each study participant was created via single-pulse TMS combined with electroencephalography (TMS-EEG) based on the recording, processing and proprietary analysis of transcranial evoked potentials and patient MRI data, according to the release.
The study commenced with a 2-week course of 20-minute sessions of neuronavigated DMN rTMS, five times per week, with enrollees receiving treatment while in a reclining position. followed by a 50-week maintenance phase in which treatment was provided once a week.
Data showed that treatment resulted in an estimated mean change in CDR-SB after 52 weeks of 1.36 for the rTMS-EEG group (95% CI, 0.68-2.04) compared with 2.45 for sham (95% CI, 1.85-3.05), representing a 44% slowing of AD progression.
“We’re excited that our non-invasive precision neuromodulation therapy continues to demonstrate promise in slowing Alzheimer’s, after 52 weeks of treatment using rTMS-EEG based personalization to target the DMN via the precuneus in mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s patients,” Sinaptica scientific co-founder Giacomo Koch, MD, PhD, said in the release. “These data confirm the potential of personalized rTMS-EEG approach on multiple clinical aspects of Alzheimer’s disease by enhancing neuroplasticity, remodeling brain connectivity, and enhancing gamma oscillatory activity in the DMN.”