Alzeimer's Disease Cooperative Study

What Alzeimer's Disease Cooperative Study does

Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study (ADCS) is a non-profit academic clinical research consortium founded in 1991 by Leon Thal, MD, and operating as a cooperative agreement between the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health, and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Headquartered at UCSD's La Jolla campus, ADCS functions as the largest federally-funded multicenter Alzheimer's disease clinical trials infrastructure in the United States, coordinating a network of more than 40 academic research sites across the U.S. and Canada with international sites in Australia, Germany, and the UK. Since inception the organization has initiated more than 30 studies — including 23 drug studies and 7 instrument development protocols — and has operated functional cores for Administration, Biorepository, Biostatistics, Clinical Operations, Imaging, Informatics & Data Management, Medical Safety, and Minority Recruitment.

ADCS provides end-to-end clinical trial infrastructure for Alzheimer's therapeutic development: study design, regulatory affairs, multicenter operations, imaging (MRI/PET), biomarker assays, data management via the Clinical Conductor CTMS, and validated cognitive assessment instruments (notably ADAS-Cog, ADCS-ADL, and ADCS-CGIC, which are industry standards). Active programs include BenfoTeam (thiamine), VIVA-MIND (varoglutamstat), VR Brain Health Study, 3 Star (vaccine in Down Syndrome), UC Cures SALAD (salsalate), DISCOVER (Posiphen), PEACE-AD (Prazosin), UC Cures NEAT (Nicotinamide), and the HALT-AD bilingual lifestyle intervention. The Combination Therapy Initiative and Intervention Selection Committee serve as formal entry points for academic investigators and pharmaceutical/biotech sponsors to access ADCS infrastructure.

ADCS does not generate commercial revenue. Its operating model rests on three revenue streams: primary funding from the NIA/NIH cooperative agreement, institutional support from UC San Diego (laboratories, administrative infrastructure, integration with the Shiley-Marcos AD Research Center), and sponsored clinical trial arrangements where external pharma/biotech or academic sponsors pay for multicenter trial execution through the ADCS network. The organization is governed under the Regents of the University of California, with current leadership transitioning from Howard Feldman, MD (Director 2016-2026) to Judy Pa, PhD. Customer segments include trial participants (patients with AD, MCI, and related conditions, plus care partners), academic investigators, and pharmaceutical/biotechnology companies; participants access trials at no cost via the clinical site network.

Name

Alzeimer's Disease Cooperative Study

Legal name

Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study

Website

https://adcs.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1991

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

ADCS is a non-profit academic clinical research consortium, founded in 1991 and operated jointly by the National Institute on Aging and UC San Diego, that designs and runs multicenter Alzheimer's disease clinical trials across 40+ U.S. and international academic sites for academic investigators and pharma/biotech sponsors.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Alzheimer's Disease Clinical Research Services

NAICS

Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Clinical Development (Phase I–III Trial Design & Execution) (HLAIALAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Electronic Data Capture (EDC) Platforms (HLACAOAA), eCOA/ePRO/eDiary & Patient-Facing Data Collection (HLACAOAB)

Keywords

• Clinical trial services
• Alzheimer's disease research
• Multicenter clinical trials
• Cognitive assessment instruments
• Neuroscience research consortium

Headquarters

HQ city

La Jolla

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. NIA/NIH Cooperative Agreement Funding: ADCS operates as a cooperative agreement funded primarily by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health. This federal funding supports the organization's core operations, clinical trials infrastructure, and research activities.
2. UC San Diego Institutional Support: As part of UC San Diego's research ecosystem, ADCS receives institutional support including laboratory facilities, administrative infrastructure, and academic integration with the Shiley-Marcos Alzheimer's Disease Research Center.
3. Sponsored Clinical Trials: ADCS provides clinical trial infrastructure and operations services for external sponsors including pharmaceutical companies, biotech firms, and academic investigators seeking to conduct multicenter AD trials through the ADCS network.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

ADCS designs, manages, and conducts multicenter clinical trials for Alzheimer's disease therapeutics through a network of 40+ academic research sites in the U.S. and internationally. It provides end-to-end trial infrastructure including study design, regulatory affairs, clinical operations, imaging, biostatistics, data management, and medical safety, and develops standardized cognitive assessment instruments (ADAS-Cog, ADL, CGIC) used in AD trials globally. The organization also maintains a biorepository for biosamples and offers data sharing to qualified researchers.

Product overview

The Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study (ADCS) is a clinical research consortium (not a product company) that operates as a cooperative agreement between the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and UC San Diego. ADCS provides a comprehensive infrastructure for Alzheimer's disease clinical trials, including multiple active clinical trials (BenfoTeam, VR Study, VIVA-MIND, HALT-AD, 3 Star, SALAD, DISCOVER, PEACE-AD, NEAT), assessment instruments (ADAS-Cog), a biorepository for biosamples, and data sharing services. The organization coordinates a network of clinical trial sites across the U.S. and Canada and offers a Clinical Trial Management System (Clinical Conductor) for study operations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ADCS Combination Therapy Initiative: A program seeking letters of intent for combination therapy initiatives addressing disease targets in Alzheimer's Disease
• HALT-AD
• Hispanos y el ALTo a la Demencia program
• BenfoTeam Study
• VIVA-MIND Study
• VR Study

Products and services

• BenfoTeam Study A multicenter clinical trial testing whether increasing thiamine (benfotiamine) in the blood slows cognitive decline in people with early Alzheimer's disease, including Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and mild dementia. The trial enrolls participants across approximately 40+ clinical trial sites in the U.S.
• VR Study (Virtual Reality Brain Health Study) A novel study using three methods of lifestyle intervention involving physical exercise and Virtual Reality to promote brain health and cognition in older adults, conducted in San Diego, California.
• VIVA-MIND Study A clinical trial designed to determine if the study drug, varoglutamstat, can stabilize or slow memory and thinking problems in early Alzheimer's disease.
• HALT-AD Program (Healthy Actions and Lifestyles to Avoid Dementia / Hispanos y el ALTo a la Demencia) A bilingual English/Spanish online program that helps adults identify their risk factors for dementia and learn how to reduce these factors through lifestyle changes, featuring at least 10 courses with videos, games, and interactive features. The Spanish-language version is culturally adapted for Latino/a communities.
• 3 Star Study A study researching and testing whether an investigational vaccine can affect Alzheimer's disease-related brain changes in participants with Down Syndrome, designed for individuals 25-45 years of age.
• UC Cures SALAD Study A Phase 1b, 12-month, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and preliminary efficacy of salsalate in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease.
• DISCOVER Study A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study where participants are treated with low, middle, or high dose of Posiphen, or a placebo.
• PEACE-AD Study A multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled study evaluating the efficacy and safety of the Prazosin drug.
• UC Cures NEAT Study A Phase 2, proof of concept, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled adaptive design trial of Nicotinamide in MCI due to AD and Mild AD Dementia.
• ADAS-Cog (Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale - Cognitive Subscale) A standardized cognitive assessment instrument developed by ADCS for measuring cognitive function in Alzheimer's disease patients in clinical trials. Kits are standardized through vendor Prepress Type and Graphics for use by academic and commercial trial sponsors worldwide.
• ADCS Biorepository A biomarker core at UCSD that banks biosamples from ADCS clinical trials, including plasma aliquots, serum aliquots, CSF aliquots, DNA, and whole blood from legacy trials, available for sharing with approved researchers upon request.
• ADCS Data Sharing Program A program that shares legacy trial datasets from completed ADCS studies upon request, including data from trials such as Selegiline, Estrogen, NSAIDS, Simvastatin, Homocysteine, Valproate, DHA, Resveratrol, and others.
• Clinical Conductor CTMS A Clinical Trial Management System providing administrative tools, data portals, study file upload, protocol deviation review, regulatory affairs, recruitment information, and study payments for all ADCS protocols across the multicenter site network.

Quantifiable outcome

• 30+ research studies initiated since 1991, including 23 drug studies and 7 instrument development protocols
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• University of California, San Diego (UCSD)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerADCS is headquartered at UCSD as part of a larger AD research and treatment effort including the Shiley-Marcos Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. UCSD provides institutional infrastructure, academic integration, and hosts the ADCS cores including Administrative, Biorepository, Biostatistics, Clinical Operations, Imaging, Informatics & Data Management, Medical Safety, and Minority Recruitment.
• Bristol-Myers SquibbminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHoward Feldman served as therapeutic area head for neuroscience global clinical research at Bristol-Myers Squibb from 2009-2011, focusing on developing novel pharmaceutical therapies for neurodegenerative disorders. This prior leadership role represents a connection between academic research and pharmaceutical industry drug development.
• Alzheimer's AssociationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Combination Therapy Initiative aligns with Alzheimer's Association (AA) priorities. The ADCS operates as part of the Alzheimer's Disease Prevention Initiative and collaborates with AA on research priorities and public awareness.
• Academic Medical Centers (ADCS Clinical Trials Network)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerADCS operates a Clinical Trials Network of 40+ academic research sites across the U.S. and Canada including Johns Hopkins, Columbia, Cleveland Clinic, UCLA, UCSD, Stanford, Northwestern, Emory, and others. Sites participate in multicenter trials with shared governance through the Steering Committee. The network enables trials at 20+ centers per protocol with enrollment ranging from 9 to 800 participants.
• International Research PartnersminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerADCS extends internationally with research sites including University of New South Wales and University of Melbourne (Australia), University of British Columbia, McGill University, and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (Canada), German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (Germany), and University College London (UK).
• Intervention Selection Committee PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe ISC provides a structured pathway for academic investigators, biotech companies, and pharmaceutical companies to present programs for potential ADCS collaboration. The committee includes members from Johns Hopkins, Purdue, Massachusetts General Hospital, USC, University of British Columbia, UCSD, and industry representatives including ADDF. To date, three programs have advanced from early discussions to multicenter proof-of-concept trials.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Banner Alzheimer's Institute: Banner Alzheimer's Institute runs large multicenter AD prevention and treatment trials (e.g., the API/Genentech collaboration) and competes directly with ADCS for sponsor-led late-phase AD programs using academic-site infrastructure.
• Critical Path Institute (C-Path): C-Path is a nonprofit consortium that convenes industry, academia, and regulators to develop drug-development tools and clinical-trial endpoints; it overlaps ADCS in instrument/endpoint standardization and consortium-mediated AD drug development.
• Alzheimer's Clinical Trials Consortium (ACTC): ACTC is a federally funded clinical-trial consortium dedicated to AD and related dementias, operating a network of academic sites for Phase I-III trials; this is the closest functional peer to ADCS in mission, funding structure, and trial design focus.
• National Cell Repository for Alzheimer's Disease (NCRAD): NCRAD at Indiana University provides biosample banking and genetic/resource services for AD research, closely paralleling ADCS's biorepository and biosample-sharing activities for multicenter AD trials.

Emerging players

• Worldwide Clinical Trials: Worldwide Clinical Trials is a mid-sized CRO with strong neuroscience/CNS focus that has increasingly pursued AD and dementia trials; it represents a smaller-scale but specialized competitor for ADCS-style sponsor work.

Broad incumbents

• BrightFocus Foundation: BrightFocus Foundation funds AD and related-disease research, including clinical programs that may use ADCS infrastructure; it is a comparable nonprofit funder operating in the same disease research ecosystem.
• IQVIA: IQVIA is the largest global CRO with a dedicated neuroscience practice that runs multicenter AD trials for pharma/biotech sponsors; it competes with ADCS for industry-sponsored Phase II/III AD work while operating at a much larger commercial scale.
• Parexel International: Parexel is a major global CRO with significant neuroscience and CNS trial capabilities, providing a commercial alternative to academic consortia like ADCS for pharma-sponsored AD trials.
• Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF): ADDF is a major nonprofit funder of AD drug discovery and translational research; it sits in the broader AD research ecosystem alongside ADCS and co-funds or supports programs that may flow through the ADCS network.

Regional players

• Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Disease Research Center: The Mayo ADRC is a long-running NIA-funded Alzheimer's Disease Research Center that runs investigator-initiated clinical and biomarker studies; it overlaps ADCS in academic AD clinical research operations and could partner or compete for trials.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/114211355284888
• Xx.com/adcsresearch

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles15 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Alzeimer's Disease Cooperative Study