NIH Steps Away From Sponsoring Alzheimer’s Disease Diagnostic Standards

The National Institutes of Health’s Institute of Aging has dropped its sponsorship with the Alzheimer’s Association of a controversial project to revise clinical research standards, which it calls criteria, for determining who has Alzheimer’s disease.

The relationship was unusual. NIH rarely sponsors projects to develop such standards, and almost never partners with advocacy groups. Typically, such guidance is written by expert panels organized by specialty medical associations, such as the American Academy of Neurology.