WASHINGTON, July 28, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation® (GAP), an international leader in accelerating clinical trials and improving recruitment, announced a collaboration with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, to expand access to clinical trials for communities underrepresented in Alzheimer’s research.
This partnership will leverage the combined expertise of GAP’s Site Alliance for Understudied Communities (SAUC) and Genentech’s Advancing Inclusive Research® (AIR) Site Alliance to remove barriers to clinical research participation and work to ensure that scientific advances in Alzheimer's disease (AD) benefit all communities. Specifically:
- Focusing on enhancing representation from understudied groups in Alzheimer’s research, including racial and ethnic minorities, women, individuals who are economically and educationally disadvantaged
- Providing study education and resources to encourage access to studies, and
- Equipping sites with the necessary educational tools, training and outreach support to understand and overcome barriers to improving representation in AD
“To truly understand and treat Alzheimer’s disease, we must include the voices and experiences of all communities. Inclusive research leads to better science, more accurate findings, and treatments that serve everyone—not just those historically represented,” said Tamiko Magee-Rodgers, PhD, assistant vice president, Trial Execution Services, GAP.
“At GAP, we believe that Alzheimer’s research must recruit participants reflecting the incidence of the disease; this is essential to scientific progress. By including people from communities across all demographics, we not only improve the quality of our data—we build trust in science, accelerate innovation, and move closer to treatments that work for everyone,” said Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation President, John Dwyer. “We are proud to work alongside Genentech, who shares our commitment to advancing best practices in clinical trials. By prioritizing access for understudied populations, we aim to ensure that breakthrough technologies benefit all communities affected by Alzheimer’s disease.”
As part of the collaboration, Genentech will activate clinical trial sites from GAP’s SAUC for several of their Alzheimer’s disease studies. These specialized sites will focus on increasing the enrollment of understudied populations by prioritizing community-based education and implementing inclusive recruitment practices.
“By expanding the AIR Site Alliance into Alzheimer’s Disease in collaboration with GAP, we have the opportunity to directly address the critical need for greater representation and access to Alzheimer’s research for all patients,” said Meghan McKenzie, portfolio alliance lead, Population Science, Genentech. “This work reflects our ongoing commitment to optimizing health outcomes for all and ensuring that all eligible patients can benefit from transformative scientific innovation.”
Media Contact: media@globalalzplatform.org
About the Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation (GAP)
The nonprofit Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation was founded to speed the delivery of Alzheimer’s treatments with a commitment to promoting diversity in clinical research, as well as lowering the cost and improving the efficacy of ADRD clinical trials to ensure that no one is left behind. As part of its mission, GAP supports more than 100 clinical research sites worldwide through study start-up and recruitment activities, promoting diversity in research studies, and giving attention to the citizen scientists who make research possible.
