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Frontotemporal Lobar DegenerationPhase 3NCT05456503

PET Imaging Tau Accumulation in FTLD and Atypical Alzheimer's Using [18F]-PI-2620

A Phase 3 study testing [18F]-PI-2620 in people with Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration and Alzheimer Disease, run by University of Pennsylvania at 1 site in United States.

Recruiting

Looking for participants now. Contact the study team or a site below to ask about taking part.

Sites and contacts
Official record
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Trial summary

The investigators will compare [18F]-PI-2620 tau PET scans from patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), patients with non-amnestic presentations of Alzheimer's disease (naAD), and demographically matched cognitively normal subjects. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 18 years and olderHealthy volunteers can take part
What is being tested?
[18F]-PI-2620
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
72 participants
Where
1 siteUnited States
Study dates
19 Sep 2022to Aug 2028
Phase
Phase 3
Are there results?
Not yet: the study is under way

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 18 years and older
  • All sexes
  • Healthy volunteers accepted
  • Adult, Older adult

Inclusion Criteria: participants must fulfill all of the criteria for one of the following groups.

  1. Group 1: cognitively and neurologically normal subjects (CN, n=25)
  2. Male or female ≥ 18 years of age currently enrolled in UNICORN (IRB #842873)
  3. Cognitively and neurologically normal according to one of the following criteria:
  4. Mini-Mental Status Exam (MMSE; Folstein et al., 1975) score > 27, OR ii. Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA; Carson et al., 2017; Nasreddine et al., 2005) score > 25, OR iii. Global Clinical Dementia Rating of 0, OR iv. Evaluation by a trained clinician
  5. Not clinically depressed, according to one of the following criteria:
  6. Geriatric Depression scale ≤ 6 (assessed ≤ 6 months prior to study enrollment), OR ii. Evaluation by a trained clinician
  7. No history of early-onset neurodegenerative disease in biological siblings or parents, based on the investigators' assessment of the participant's self-reported history.
  8. Group 2: non-amnestic Alzheimer's disease (naAD, n=15)
  9. Male or female ≥ 18 years of age currently enrolled in UNICORN (IRB #842873)
  10. Clinically diagnosed by a trained clinician as having a non-amnestic syndrome attributed to likely AD pathology, including but not limited to logopenic-variant primary progressive aphasia (lvPPA), posterior cortical atrophy (PCA), behavioral/dysexecutive AD (bvAD), corticobasal syndrome due to AD (CBS-AD), non-amnestic mild cognitive impairment (naMCI), or non-amnestic AD (naAD).
  11. Not clinically depressed, according to one of the following criteria:
  12. Geriatric Depression scale ≤ 6 (assessed ≤ 6 months prior to study enrollment), OR ii. Evaluation by a trained clinician
  13. Have a study partner and LAR (if applicable) who can participate as outlined in the protocol. Please see page 15 for further clarification.
  14. Group 3: FTLD likely due to tau (FTLD-tau, n=25)
  15. Male or female ≥ 18 years of age currently enrolled in UNICORN (IRB #842873)
  16. Clinically diagnosed by a trained clinician as having a neurodegenerative syndrome likely due to tau , including but not limited to progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), non-fluent agrammatic primary progressive aphasia (naPPA), corticobasal syndrome (CBS), or behavioral-variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD).
  17. Not clinically depressed, according to one of the following criteria:
  18. Geriatric Depression scale ≤ 6 (assessed ≤ 6 months prior to study enrollment), OR ii. Evaluation by a trained clinician
  19. Have a study partner and LAR (if applicable) who can participate as outlined in the protocol. Please see page 15 for further clarification.
  20. Group 4: FTLD likely due to TDP-43 (FTLD-TDP, n=12)
  21. Male or female ≥ 18 years of age currently enrolled in UNICORN (IRB #842873)
  22. Clinically diagnosed by a trained clinician as having a dementia syndrome associated with likely TDP-43 pathology, including but not limited to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with frontotemporal dementia (ALS-FTD) or semantic-variant primary progressive aphasia (svPPA).
  23. Not clinically depressed, according to one of the following criteria:
  24. Geriatric Depression scale ≤ 6 (assessed ≤ 6 months prior to study enrollment), OR ii. Evaluation by a trained clinician
  25. Have a study partner and LAR (if applicable) who can participate as outlined in the protocol. Please see page 15 for further clarification.
  26. Group 5: having a known genetic mutation associated with FTLD-tau (genetic FTLD-tau, n=12)
  27. Male or female ≥ 18 years of age 2. Currently enrolled in UNICORN (IRB #842873) with a genetic test result indicating a mutation in the MAPT gene.
  28. Clinically diagnosed by a trained clinician as having an appropriate neurodegenerative condition OR confirmed as an asymptomatic mutation carrier.
  29. Not clinically depressed, according to one of the following criteria: i. Geriatric Depression scale ≤ 6 (assessed ≤ 6 months prior to study enrollment), OR ii. Evaluation by a trained clinician 5. Have a study partner and LAR (if applicable) who can participate as outlined in the protocol. Please see page 15 for further clarification.
  30. Group 6: having a known genetic mutation associated with FTLD-TDP (genetic FTLD-TDP, n=3)
  31. Male or female ≥ 18 years of age
  32. Currently enrolled in UNICORN (IRB #842873) with a genetic test result indicating a mutation in the GRN gene or in open reading frame 72 of chromosome 9 (C9orf72).
  33. Clinically diagnosed by a trained clinician as having an appropriate neurodegenerative condition OR confirmed as an asymptomatic mutation carrier.
  34. Not clinically depressed, according to one of the following criteria:
  35. Geriatric Depression scale ≤ 6 (assessed ≤ 6 months prior to study enrollment), OR ii. Evaluation by a trained clinician
  36. Have a study partner and LAR (if applicable) who can participate as outlined in the protocol. Please see page 15 for further clarification.
  37. Group 7: amnestic Alzheimer's disease (naAD, n=15)
  38. Male or female ≥ 18 years of age currently enrolled in UNICORN (IRB #842873)
  39. Clinically diagnosed by a trained clinician as having amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or amnestic Alzheimer's disease (aAD).
  40. Not clinically depressed, according to one of the following criteria:
  41. Geriatric Depression scale ≤ 6 (assessed ≤ 6 months prior to study enrollment), OR ii. Evaluation by a trained clinician
  42. Have a study partner and LAR (if applicable) who can participate as outlined in the protocol. Please see page 15 for further clarification.

Exclusion Criteria for all groups: Participants will be excluded from enrollment if they meet any of the following criteria.

  1. The participant has any medical or psychiatric conditions that, in the opinion of the investigator, would compromise the participant's safety or successful participation in the study.
  2. The investigators of UNICORN (IRB #842873) have determined the participant has evidence of structural abnormalities such as major stroke or mass on MRI scan within < 6 months prior to enrollment that is likely to interfere with analysis of the PET scan.
  3. The participant is unable to tolerate or have a contraindication to imaging procedures in the opinion of an investigator.
  4. Females who are pregnant or breast feeding at the time of the baseline PET/CT scan will not be eligible for this study. A urine pregnancy test will be performed in women of child-bearing potential at screening and within 24 hours of any scheduled PET/CT.
  5. The participant has a history of significant past or ongoing alcohol abuse or substance abuse, or dependence based on medical record review or self-reported (may be excluded at the discretion of the investigator.)
  6. The participant is enrolled in a clinical trial for a disease-modifying treatment that targets the molecular pathology underlying their neurodegenerative disease.

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.

Jeffrey S Phillips, PhD contact

215-349-5863

jefphi@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

United States1 site, 1 recruiting
  • Perelman Center for Advance Medicine

    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19104

    Dahlia Kamel, 215-662-6134, kamel.dahlia@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

    David J Irwin, MD

    Recruiting

Other trials in United States

About this study

Official title: Imaging Tau Accumulation in FTLD and Atypical Alzheimer's Disease Using the PET Ligand [18F]-PI-2620

The investigators will compare [18F]-PI-2620 tau PET scans from patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), patients with non-amnestic presentations of Alzheimer's disease (naAD), and demographically matched cognitively normal subjects.

Read the detailed description

The current study is a companion imaging study to IRB# 842873, "University of Pennsylvania Centralized Observational Research Repository on Neurodegenerative Disease" (UNICORN). All participants in the current study must be concurrently enrolled in UNICORN. UNICORN is an observational study that aims to collect and store cross-sectional and longitudinal data from brain imaging, clinical and neuropsychological assessment, biomarker assays, and genetic testing of participants to improve clinical assessment and basic scientific understanding of multiple neurodegenerative conditions. The UNICORN cohort includes neurodegenerative disease patients who have been evaluated by trained neurologists in the Penn Cognitive Neurology Clinic according to published clinical research diagnostic criteria and reviewed at a weekly multidisciplinary consensus conference; as well as individuals with normal cognition recruited from the general community or from among caregivers/relatives of patients participating in research. As part of the UNICORN study, participants are asked to undergo periodic (typically annual) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and clinical/neuropsychological assessment. All participants' biological samples may be subjected to research genetic testing analyses. Results from these analyses are considered research, and as such are used for research purposes only. UNICORN participants are also asked to undergo a one-time lumbar puncture to assess cerebrospinal fluid protein levels, including amyloid-ß1-42, an established biomarker for Alzheimer's disease (AD) neuropathologic change. As an alternative method of assessing amyloid status, some UNICORN participants may have previously undergone an [18F] florbetaben amyloid PET scan under protocol #824869. The procedure for detecting amyloid could also be a lumbar puncture that was performed for clinical purposes or an amyloid PET scan, performed either clinically or for research purposes.

Participants will be screened according to the study selection criteria, based on self-report, information provided by caregivers, and medical history available through PennChart or through the Integrative Neurodegenerative Disease Database (INDD). All screening/enrollment documentation will come from the parent study, IRB# 842873 UNICORN. Participants will provide written informed consent for this protocol before beginning any study specific procedures. Participants must satisfy all eligibility criteria and consent to [18F]-PI-2620 PET imaging to be enrolled in the study. Participants will be assigned to one of 7 groups, including cognitively and neurologically normal adults (CN; planned enrollment of n=25); non-amnestic AD (naAD, n=15); frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) due to tauopathy (FTLD-tau, n=25); FTLD due to TDP-43 (n=12); FTLD-tau due to a known genetic mutation in the MAPT gene (genetic FTLD-tau, n=12); FTLD-TDP due to a known mutation in the GRN gene or open reading frame 72 of chromosome 9 (C9orf72) (genetic FTLD-TDP, n=3); and amnestic MCI/AD (aAD, n=15), Total planned enrollment is thus 107 participants; recruitment and data acquisition for the study are projected to take approximately 6 years.

The current study comprises a baseline visit with a PET/CT imaging scan, using the [18F]-PI-2620 tracer. If funding is available, participants may be asked to return for one or more longitudinal visits to complete a [18F]-PI-2620 brain scan between 12 and 24 months after the previous [18F]-PI-2620 brain scan. These visits must be at least 12 months apart, but ideally not greater than 24 months apart. If a longitudinal visit is missed for any reason, it will not be considered a protocol deviation, and the participant may be scheduled for a [18F]-PI-2620 brain scan as soon as possible thereafter.

The central hypotheses are 1) that [18F]-PI-2620 PET will distinguish Alzheimer's disease (AD) or frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) tauopathy from the brains of both healthy adults and patients with FTLD due to accumulation of transactive response DNA binding protein 43 kDA (TDP-43); and 2) that in FTLD and AD tauopathies, [18F]-PI-2620 will be associated with patients' current and future cognitive, motor, and functional impairment.

Being tested
[18F]-PI-2620
Medical subject headings
Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration, Alzheimer Disease

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • [18F]-PI-2620Drug

    Radiotracer

Study groups in NCT05456503
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
Cognitively and neurologically normal adults (CN)ExperimentalOne PET imaging scan using the [18F]-PI-2620 tracer
Receives: Drug: [18F]-PI-2620
Non-amnestic Alzheimer's Disease (AD)ExperimentalOne PET imaging scan using the [18F]-PI-2620 tracer
Receives: Drug: [18F]-PI-2620
Frontotemporal lobar degeneration from tauopathy (FLTD-tau)ExperimentalOne PET imaging scan using the [18F]-PI-2620 tracer
Receives: Drug: [18F]-PI-2620
Frontotemporal lobar degeneration from TDP-43 (FLTD-TDP)ExperimentalOne PET imaging scan using the [18F]-PI-2620 tracer
Receives: Drug: [18F]-PI-2620
Frontotemporal lobar degeneration from mutation in the MAPT gene (genetic FLTD-tau)ExperimentalOne PET imaging scan using the [18F]-PI-2620 tracer
Receives: Drug: [18F]-PI-2620
Frontotemporal lobar degeneration from mutation in the GRN gene or frame 72 of chromosome 9ExperimentalOne PET imaging scan using the [18F]-PI-2620 tracer
Receives: Drug: [18F]-PI-2620
Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment Alzheimer's Disease (MCI/aAD)ExperimentalOne PET imaging scan using the [18F]-PI-2620 tracer
Receives: Drug: [18F]-PI-2620

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Whole brain SUVR

    Whole-brain and regionally specific standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR) calculated over a 30 minute imaging period beginning 45 minutes (groups 1, 2, 4, 6, \& 7) after tracer injection

    Measured: Once during single PET CT

  2. Regional brain SUVR

    Regionally specific standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR) calculated over a 30 minute period beginning at either 30 minutes (groups 3 \& 5 plus half of group 1) or 45 minutes (groups 2, 4, \& 6 \& 7 plus half of group 1) after PET imaging tracer injection.

    Measured: Once during single PET CT

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted13 Jul 2022
  2. Study start19 Sep 2022
  3. Primary completionAug 2028 (estimated)
  4. Study completionAug 2028 (estimated)

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase 3
Primary purpose
Diagnosis
Allocation
Non-randomised
Intervention model
Parallel groups
Masking
None (open label)
Enrolment
72 participants (estimated)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT05456503
Sponsor's protocol ID
849866
Status last verified
Sep 2026
First submitted
8 Jul 2022
Last updated
21 Sep 2026
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
Yes
FDA-regulated device
No
Individual data sharing
No

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A Phase 3 study testing [18F]-PI-2620 in people with Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration and Alzheimer Disease, run by University of Pennsylvania at 1 site in United States.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: looking for participants now, as of the sponsor's last update on 21 Sep 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

What does this phase mean?

Phase 3 studies compare the treatment with the current standard treatment or a placebo in a large group, to confirm how well it works and watch for side effects.

Not every study follows the same path, and some studies (observational studies, device studies) have no phase.

Are results available for this study?

This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

Contact David J Irwin, MD (215-662-3361, dirwin@pennmedicine.upenn.edu), or a site near the patient. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Whole brain SUVR (time frame: Once during single PET CT). The study lists 2 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 21 Sep 2026.

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