Lyft Volunteers to Transport Alzheimer’s Patients to and from Clinical Trial Sites

The transportation service Lyft is teaming up with the Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation to help those who are participating in an Alzheimer’s trial get to and from U.S. and Canadian research sites.

Under the agreement, Lyft will provide transportation for those taking part in Eli Lilly’s Phase 2 TRAILBLAZER-ALZ (NCT03367403) trial and their caregivers. The company hopes to recruit up to 375 participants.

Lyft is already helping trial participants get to some trial sites, and will add other sites later.

The foundation had previously identified lack of transportation options as a significant barrier to Alzheimer’s trial participation. Because some participants do not have convenient or affordable ways to get to and from research facilities, they often stop participating. This not only hurts results but can also jeopardize a trial’s completion.

TRAILBLAZER-ALZ is evaluating the safety and effectiveness of LY3002813, alone and in combination with LY3202626, as a treatment for early Alzheimer’s disease. LY3002813 is a monoclonal antibody, while LY3202626 is a small-molecule inhibitor. Both recognize and target amyloid plaque in the brain.

Lyft will transport patients to and from 15 trial sites in the foundation’s GAP-Net, a group of 63 top academic and private Alzheimer’s research sites in North America.

These include Axiom Clinical Research in Tampa, Florida; Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Phoenix; Banner Sun Health Research Institute in Sun City, Arizona; Bioclinica in Melbourne, Orlando and the Villages, Florida; Brain Matters Research in Delray Beach, Florida; the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis; the Irvine Center for Clinical Research in Irvine, California; Progressive Medical Research in Port Orange, Florida; Raleigh Neurology Associates in Raleigh, North Carolina; Re: Cognition Health in Fairfax, Virginia; Stedman Clinical Trials in Tampa; Syrentis Clinical Research in Santa Ana, California; and Toronto Memory Program in Canada.

“This partnership with Lyft will help remove an important barrier for clinical trial participants — transportation,” John Dwyer, the foundation’s president, said in a press release. “Our many GAP-Net centers across the country significantly contribute to advancements in Alzheimer’s research. By using Lyft for our centers enrolling participants in TRAILBLAZER-ALZ, we hope more individuals will participate in this drug trial. Our partnership with Lyft makes the trial experience as easy as possible for study participants and their study partners.”

Lyft formed a similar partnership with the electronic health records company Allscripts. Under that arrangement, Lyft transports patients who have no other way to get to appointments.

“We’re excited to partner with the Global Alzheimer’s Platform to make clinical trials more accessible. Removing transportation barriers for this population, which has traditionally faced significant transit challenges, will help immensely,” said Gyre Renwick, tge vice president of Lyft.  “Together, we’re working to address a disease that has impacted a significant portion of the U.S. Our partnership with the GAP Foundation is integral to our efforts of reducing the transportation healthcare gap by 50 percent by 2020, as we work to improve people’s lives with the world’s best transportation.”

You can see which GAP-Net sites already have Lyft service and which will join soon by  clicking on this link.