(WTVF) — Researchers at Vanderbilt University are a part of a study testing a new drug to fight Alzheimer's disease.
The drug is called Lecanemab also known as Leqembi.
The trial, called AHEAD, is much bigger than Vanderbilt. There are more than 70 research teams who are looking for 1,400 people to be a part of it aged 55 to 80, according to Scripps News.
Overall this is for people with pre-clinical and early pre-clinical Alzheimer's, which is when brain scans show a type of deposit that indicates Alzheimer's.
According to Scripps News, Black adults are twice as likely to get the disease compared to white adults. However, only about 10% of people in the nationwide trial are Black.
Carol Turner signed up to be a part of the trial and is the first Black participant. She is hoping more Black people who have a family history sign up.
"It was something that we never thought we would hear because there's nothing out here. Definitely not for our age. There's nothing out here. So we figured that that would just be awesome. And as soon as it launched, we jumped on board," Turner said.
According to Scripps News, in the third phase of the trial, the number of Black participants was way lower than white participants. The results are expected to be ready in 2028.
