Statement from the University of Southern California

July 2, 2015

Researchers move between institutions regularly. USC has been building its neuroscience research programs for several years, and is excited to welcome Paul Aisen, who has been a national leader in Alzheimer’s disease research for over 20 years. Aisen and his collaborators have designed and led many large clinical trials, and their group’s knowledge and expertise, combined with USC’s existing strengths in medical neuroscience, promise to accelerate discoveries and treatments for neurological diseases that affect millions around the world.

 We are surprised and disappointed that the University of California, San Diego, elected to sue its departing faculty member and his team, as well as USC, rather than manage this transition collaboratively, as is the well-accepted custom and practice in academia.

July 6, 2015

Statement from neuroscientist Paul Aisen

“I have devoted the last 20 years of my career to the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study, which in essence operates independently of the University of California, San Diego. I strongly believe that USC offers the best environment for this research program to prosper and grow, regardless of what it may be called in the end. This lawsuit is more about affiliation with an institution than about the protection and support of Alzheimer’s research.

“Regarding data, ADCS has been migrating to the cloud for several years as a matter of convenience and data protection. Both UCSD and USC have access to all of the data. UCSD has always had access to the cloud data as well as a mirror database on its own supercomputer. As the ongoing principal investigator on several clinical studies, I continue to have access to clinical data from those studies.

“I remain PI of the A4 study (with co-lead Reisa Sperling), the FYN Inhibition Study (with Stritmatter and van Dyck at Yale), and the Intra-nasal Insulin study (with Suzanne Craft at Wake Forest). I am also co-Director of the Clinical Core of the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Study along with related projects.”