Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI)

ADNI began in 2004, when the National Institute on Aging (NIA) recognized the critical need to develop and validate biomarkers to improve the speed and success rate of clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Understanding that such a colossal undertaking required significant investment, intellectual contribution, and a variety of skill sets, ADNI was designed, structured, and operated as a public-private partnership, managed by the FNIH.
Under the leadership of Dr. Michael W. Weiner, ADNI1 was funded as a private-public partnership with $26 million contributed by 20 companies and two foundations through the FNIH and $42 million from the NIA. The initial five-year study (ADNI-1) was extended by two years in 2009 by a Grand Opportunities grant (ADNI-GO), and in 2011 and 2016 by further competitive renewals of the ADNI-1 grant (ADNI-2, and ADNI-3, respectively).

Over nearly two decades, ADNI underwent multiple peer-reviewed renewals and federal funding (including ADNI1, ADNI-GO, ADNI2, ADNI3, and ADNI4, with the FNIH managing 160 partners and individual donors who contributed a staggering $210 million to the cause with, $145 million from the public sector and $65 million from the private sector.
After relying on a public-private partnership for funding and advancing ADNI, the NIA funded the current phase of ADNI (ADNI 4) entirely with federal funds, which successfully ended the FNIH’s role in managing the Public-Private Partnership.

ADNI4, continues the program’s legacy of developing tools and methodologies to advance treatment trials for AD. And the Alzheimer’s Association has taken over coordination of the PPSB, ensuring that the public and private sectors will continue to interact and collaborate.

The Public Partner Scientific Board (PPSB) was created and managed by the FNIH as an independent advisory board composed of members from the private sector, biotech, diagnostics, and non-profits.
The PPSB has been the key of ADNI’s success. It provided financial support, but members of the PPSB also shared their insights, advice, and suggestions, all of which proved vital in advancing ADNI’s mission.

The PPSB managed various Workgroups (Clinical Endpoints, PET Endpoints, MRI Core Assessment and Privacy, Fluid Biomarkers, Genetics, and Systems.) which were instrumental in evaluating emerging technologies and making decisions about ADNI’s structure.

In addition, the PPSB also funded and ran add-on projects that were not part of the original ADNI project. Endpoints now routinely used in clinical trials (FDG PET, amyloid PET, AD Assessment Scale – Cognitive Subscale (ADAS-Cog)) are the result of refinement, improvement, and guidance from PPSB workgroups.

ADNI’s legacy lives on through ongoing collaborations between the public and private sectors, such as the Biomarkers Consortium and the Accelerating Medicines Partnership (AMP®) – Alzheimer’s Disease. Numerous projects have been generated due to the lessons learned from ADNI, and the neuroscience field continues to move forward.