A new database of more than 4,000 Alzheimer's disease patients who have participated in 11 industry-sponsored clinical trials was released by the Coalition Against Major Diseases (CAMD) (http://c-path.org/CAMD.cfm). This is the first database of combined clinical trials to be openly shared by pharmaceutical companies and made available to qualified researchers around the world.

It is also the first effort of its kind to create a voluntary industry data standard that will help accelerate new treatment research on brain disease. The data will enable researchers to more accurately predict the true course of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's, and other neuro-degenerative diseases, thereby enabling the design of more efficient clinical trials.

CAMD is a formal consortium of pharmaceutical companies, research foundations and patient advocacy/voluntary health associations, with advisors from government research and regulatory agencies including the US Food and Drug Administration, the European Medicines Agency, the US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and the US National Institute on Aging. CAMD is led and managed by the non-profit Critical Path Institute (C-Path), which is funded by a cooperative agreement with the FDA and a matching grant from Science Foundation Arizona.

CAMD Members: Abbott, Alliance for Aging Research, Alzheimer's Association, Alzheimer's Foundation of America, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, CHDI Foundation Inc, Eli Lilly and Company, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Forest Research Institute, Genentech Inc., GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, National Health Council, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Parkinson's Action Network, Parkinson's Disease Foundation, Pfizer, Inc., and sanofi-aventis US Inc.