Using medical records and biology to find existing drugs that might help people with Alzheimer's
Computational Drug Repurposing for AD/ADRD with Integrative Analysis of Real World Data and Biomedical Knowledge
This project looks for already-approved medicines that could help people living with Alzheimer's disease or related dementias by combining health records and biological knowledge.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Weill Medical Coll of Cornell Univ NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (New York, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11300261 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
Researchers will combine large real-world health data such as electronic health records and insurance claims with biomedical knowledge to generate drug repurposing ideas for Alzheimer's and related dementias. They will use computer algorithms, computable phenotyping, and natural language processing to accurately identify patients, extract key features (like memory test scores), and define outcomes. The team will integrate genetic and biological information (for example APOE-related factors) to account for disease differences across people. Promising drug candidates identified by these methods would be prioritized for further clinical testing.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: People with Alzheimer's disease or related dementias, and older adults with relevant risk factors or genetic markers whose records are available in participating health systems, would be the most likely candidates for inclusion in this research.
Not a fit: People without Alzheimer's or related dementias, and those whose medical records are not accessible in the participating data networks, are unlikely to benefit directly from this project.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could speed up the discovery of treatments by identifying existing drugs that might slow, prevent, or reduce symptoms of Alzheimer's more quickly than developing new drugs.
How similar studies have performed: Similar real-world data and drug repurposing approaches have produced promising leads in other diseases and exploratory signals for Alzheimer's exist, but no widely accepted repurposed drug for Alzheimer's has yet been proven in large clinical trials.
Where this research is happening
New York, United States
- Weill Medical Coll of Cornell Univ — New York, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Wang, Fei — Weill Medical Coll of Cornell Univ
- Study coordinator: Wang, Fei
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.