ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT06891716Updated Aug 26, 2026

[18F]ACI-19626 PET in TDP-43 Proteinopathies

An Early Phase 1 interventional study of [18F]ACI-19626 in Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD), Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and TDP-43 Proteinopathies, sponsored by AC Immune SA. Recruiting at 1 site in Netherlands. Open to participants aged 40 Years to 70 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-08-26.

Sponsored by AC Immune SA · Early Phase 1, Interventional, and Diagnostic

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Jan 2025; still recruiting 1 year 9 months later.
Phase
Early Phase 1
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
45
Allocation
Non-randomized
Ages
40 Years to 70 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to test whether we can reliably and safely measure the accumulation of pathological protein TDP-43 [involved in rare forms of dementia such as frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)] using a new positron emission tomography (PET) tracer called [18F]ACI-19626. Both healthy people and people with (suspected) TDP-43 accumulation will participate to this trial.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

  • whether [18F]ACI-19626 is safe and well tolerated when injected into participants
  • whether [18F]ACI-19626 reliably detects abnormal TDP-43 in the brain using PET technique.
  • whether there are differences in the amount of this protein between people with diseases related to TDP-43 accumulation in the brain and people without these diseases.

Participants will:

  • Visit the clinic to consent to their participation and to ensure they are eligible (physical and neurological examinations, questionnaires, blood and urine tests, ECG and MRI in some cases).
  • Visit the clinic to receive the tracer [18F]ACI-19626 intravenously and be scanned in a PET scanner, during which blood will be collected.
  • Receive a phone call from the clinic 2 to 4 days after the PET scan to report any symptoms and side-effects that they may be having.

Some of the participants may be asked to come again to the clinic for a second PET scan, allowing the researchers to determine if the measurements with the first PET scan are stable and reproducible.

Read the detailed description

This trial aims to evaluate the effects (i.e. safety and uptake) of a new radiotracer molecule. Study participants will take part in the study by attending two to three study visits over a period of up to 3 months (from the screening visit up to the last study visit).

The study consists of three parts in which a total of up to 45 participants may be included:

Part 1 may include in total up to 15 participants:

  • up to 5 healthy controls (HCs)
  • up to 5 symptomatic progranulin gene (GRN) and up to 5 symptomatic chromosome 9 open reading frame 72 (C9orf72) mutation carriers with FTD (including prodromal) either with or without motor neuron disease (MND) characteristics.

If the safety and dosimetry are satisfactory in the first subjects and sufficient data are obtained from this part, Part 2 may be initiated.

Part 2 may include in total up to 30 participants including:

  • up to 25 patients with TDP-43 proteinopathies: up to 10 additional mutation carriers (including other mutations than GRN and C9orf72, and/or asymptomatic carriers) with FTD (including prodromal) either with or without MND characteristics; up to 10 sporadic or genetic (excluding mutations with known absence of TDP-43 pathology, e.g. Superoxide Dismutase 1 (SOD1) or fused in sarcoma protein gene (FUS)) ALS; up to 10 suspected TDP-43 related sporadic FTD or FTD-MND; up to 5 patients with other neurodegenerative diseases, e.g. AD or suspected Limbic-Predominant Age-related TDP-43 Encephalopathy (LATE) pathology
  • up to 5 additional HVs may also be imaged, if necessary, to enable a better distinction of brain binding in this population compared to the population of subjects with TDP-43 proteinopathies

Part 3 aims to assess test-retest reliability. Up to 5 participants from Part 1 and/or Part 2 will have an additional scan within 1 month after their first scan to determine test-retest reliability.

02

Conditions studied

  • Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD)
  • Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
  • TDP-43 Proteinopathies
  • Suspected Limbic Predominant Age-related TDP-43 Encephalopathy (LATE)
  • Alzheimer's Disease (AD)
03

In context

Frontotemporal Dementia

208 studies on the registry are indexed under Frontotemporal Dementia; 72 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 45 is close to the median of 50 across 128 interventional studies indexed under Frontotemporal Dementia.

Browse Frontotemporal Dementia studies →

Lead sponsor

AC Immune SA is the lead sponsor of 8 studies on the registry; 4 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
40 Years to 70 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Subject is able to provide written (IC), which must be obtained before any assessment is performed.
  • Female subjects must not be of , or if they are of childbearing potential to agree to use reliable method(s) and not donate eggs for 30 days after the PET scan. Subjects without documentation of non-childbearing potential will perform serum pregnancy testing at screening and urine pregnancy test before the PET scan. A woman is considered to be of childbearing potential if she is postmenarchal, has not reached a state (12 continuous months of amenorrhea with no identified cause other than menopause), and is not permanently infertile due to surgery (i.e., removal of ovaries, fallopian tubes, and/or uterus) or another cause as determined by the PI (e.g., Müllerian agenesis). Women of childbearing potential must commit to remain abstinent (refrain from heterosexual intercourse) or use a reliable form of birth control (e.g. a barrier, hormonal contraception method or intrauterine device), during the study and until 30 days after the last PET scan. Periodic abstinence (e.g., calendar, ovulation, symptothermal, or postovulation methods) and withdrawal are not adequate methods of contraception. Women of childbearing potential must commit to not donate ovum during the study and until 30 days after the last PET scan.
  • Male subjects with their partners of childbearing potential must commit to the use of a barrier method of contraception during the study and until 90 days after the last PET scan.
  • Male subjects must commit to not donate sperm during the study and until 90 days after the last PET scan.
  • Willing and able to cooperate with study procedures.
  • Ability to tolerate lying in the scanner for up to 90 minutes without excessive movements sufficient to cause significant motion artifact on the PET scans, or if necessary up to 120 minutes with a break.
  • For subjects receiving arterial cannulation, adequate circulation to the hand for safe placement of arterial line and coagulation ( [INR], Prothrombin Time [PT] and Partial Thromboplastin Time [PTT]).

Additional Inclusion Criteria for Healthy Controls:

  • Males and females aged 40-70 years.
  • Healthy with no finding on physical and neurological examination at Screening and upon reporting to the clinic for the [18F]ACI-19626 Imaging Visit.
  • No family history of TDP-43 proteinopathies, including FTD, ALS, or other early-onset neurological disease associated with dementia and/or movement disorders.
  • No personal history of clinically significant neurological and/or psychiatric disorders.
  • No evidence of neurodegeneration or other neurological pathology on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) performed either as part of Screening or on previously acquired MRI scan (within 6 months prior to signing consent).
  • (MoCA) score ≥ 26.
  • No cognitive or behavioural impairment as judged by the PI.

Additional Inclusion Criteria for Participants with TDP-43 proteinopathies:

  • Males and females aged ≥ 40 years.
  • Subjects diagnosed with any of the following: Symptomatic GRN, C9Orf72 or other mutation carriers with FTD or FTD-MND and CDR® plus NACC FTLD-GS of ≥ 0.5, or asymptomatic GRN, C9Orf72 or other mutation carriers; sporadic probable behavioral FTD per International consensus criteria or primary progressive aphasia, with or without clinical or electrophysiological indications of MND; ALS meeting the El Escorial criteria of probable, possible or definite ALS; Other neurodegenerative diseases, e.g. AD or suspected LATE pathology
  • Confirmed genetic status for the subjects with genetic FTD, FTD-MND or ALS (e.g. GRN, C9orf72 or other mutations)
  • For sporadic FTD / FTD-MND subjects: brain MRI consistent with a diagnosis of FTD, with no evidence of focal disease to account for the subject's neurological, cognitive or behavioral symptoms.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria for All Participants:

  • Current or prior history of any alcohol or drug abuse in the past 2 years.
  • Laboratory tests with abnormalities and/or clinically significant unstable medical condition.
  • Known history of , including hypersensitivity to the active substances used for [18F]ACI-19626 or derivatives, or to any of the associated .
  • Prior participation in other research protocols or clinical care during the past year that would result in radiation exposure to an effective radiation dose exceeding the acceptable annual limit (including the procedures in this clinical protocol).
  • Pregnant or lactating.
  • Evidence of clinically significant gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, hepatic, renal, hematological, neoplastic, endocrine, alternative neurological, immunodeficiency, pulmonary, or other disorder or disease.
  • Unsuitable veins for repeated venipuncture.
  • Implants such as implanted cardiac pacemakers or defibrillators, insulin pumps, cochlear implants, metallic ocular foreign body, implanted neural stimulators, CNS aneurysm clips and other medical implants that have not been certified for MRI, or history of claustrophobia in MRI.
  • Treatment with any antihemostasis medication (e.g., warfarin, heparin, thrombin inhibitors, Factor Xa inhibitors, streptokinase, urokinase, tissue plasminogen activators) within 2 weeks of the planned arterial cannula placement (if performed) of either the baseline or retest imaging.
  • Anaemia (for subjects undergoing arterial cannulation) considered clinically significant by the PI
  • Coagulopathies
  • Loss or donation of blood over 500 mL within four months prior to study visits for subjects undergoing arterial cannulation
  • Subject has received an drug within the last 30 days or 5 half-lives prior to the screening assessments, whichever is longer unless there is documented evidence that the subject was treated with placebo only.

Additional Exclusion Criteria for Participants with TDP-43 proteinopathies:

  • Prior participation in DMT clinical trials which could interfere with the TDP-43 protein itself or its metabolism, including but not limited to gene therapy, unless there is documented evidence that the subject was treated with placebo only.
  • MRI scan showing structural evidence of alternative pathology not consistent with TDP-43 proteinopathies which could cause the subject's symptoms.
  • Mutations with known absence of TDP-43 pathology, e.g. SOD1 or FUS.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(10)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

Childbearing potential

Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).

Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

Postmenopausal

Periods have stopped for good: usually no period for 12 months in a row without another medical reason, sometimes confirmed by a blood test (FSH).

INR, PT and aPTT (clotting tests)

Blood tests of how long blood takes to clot. The INR is the prothrombin time (PT) put on a common scale; about 1 is usual for someone not taking a blood thinner.

Criteria often make an exception for people on a blood thinner such as warfarin, whose INR is raised on purpose.

Clinically significant

Judged by the study doctor to matter for your health or for the study. It is a doctor’s decision, so ask the study team if you are unsure whether something counts.

MMSE and MoCA

Short tests of memory and thinking, each scored out of 30. Lower scores suggest more difficulty; criteria give a range, either to include people with memory problems or to leave them out.

Hypersensitivity

An allergy, or another reaction of the immune system, to a substance. “Hypersensitivity to the study drug” means a known allergic reaction to it — not every side effect a medicine can have.

Excipients

The other ingredients in a medicine besides the active drug, such as fillers, colours or preservatives.

Investigational drug or device

A drug or device being studied in a clinical trial.

It may be new, or already approved and being studied for another use, dose or form. Criteria often leave out people who took part in another study of one within a recent period, commonly 30 days or five half-lives.

05

Study design

Phase
Early Phase 1
Primary purpose
Diagnostic
Allocation
Non-randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
45 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Participants with suspected TDP-43 proteinopathies

    The study population will be composed of participants with suspected TDP-43 proteinopathies

    Other: [18F]ACI-19626

  • Active comparator
    Healthy controls

    The study population will be composed of healthy controls.

    Other: [18F]ACI-19626

Interventions

  • Other[18F]ACI-19626

    \[18F\]ACI-19626 is an intravenously administered radioactive imaging agent being studied as a potential positron emitting radiopharmaceutical for in vivo imaging of TDP-43 deposits.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Number of participants with Adverse Events (AEs) assessed by severity (mild, moderate or severe) and causal relationship (unrelated, unlikely, possibly or probably related)

    Time frame: From Informed Consent Signature (screening) to safety phone call after PET scan (i.e. up to 3 months in total)

  2. Number of participants with clinically significant changes in vital signs measurements

    Vital signs measurements will be performed after the PET scan is completed and will be compared with measurements performed before the injection of \[18F\]ACI-19626.

    Time frame: During PET scan visit (i.e. at Day 0): before [18F]ACI-19626 injection and after the PET scan is completed

  3. Brain uptake of the tracer [18F]ACI-19626

    \[18F\]ACI-19626 brain uptake in relevant regions of interest of the brain will be measured with PET scan and the mean of each group (participants with TDP-proteinopathies and healthy controls) will be calculated.

    Time frame: At the time of the [18F]ACI-19626 PET scan (i.e. at Day 0): 0-90 minutes after injection

  4. Assessment of the optimal kinetic model quantification of [18F]ACI-19626 tracer uptake

    The selection of the optimal kinetic model will be done based on the Akaike's information criterion

    Time frame: At the time of the [18F]ACI-19626 PET scan (i.e. at Day 0): 0-90 minutes after injection

  5. Radiation dosimetry after one [18F]ACI-19626 PET scan

    The radiation dose absorbed by relevant vital organs and the total effective dose will be measured, and the mean of scanned participants will be calculated

    Time frame: At the time of the [18F]ACI-19626 PET scan (i.e. at Day 0): 0-90 minutes after injection

Secondary outcomes

  1. Assessment of simplified methods to quantify brain uptake of the tracer [18F]ACI-19626

    The validity of simplified reference tissue models will be assessed by determining correlation coefficients with corresponding outcome parameters from the optimal tracer full kinetic model

    Time frame: At the time of the [18F]ACI-19626 PET scan (i.e. at Day 0): 0-90 minutes after injection

  2. Variability of the tracer brain uptake between two [18F]ACI-19626 PET scans (test/retest)

    The repeatability/reliability of the \[18F\]ACI-19626 brain uptake measures will be assessed by calculating the variability (percentage difference) of the tracer brain uptake between the first and the second \[18F\]ACI-19626 PET scan for each participant in study Part 3, and the mean will be calculated.

    Time frame: At the first [18F]ACI-19626 PET scan and the second [18F]ACI-19626 PET scan (i.e. up to 1 month)

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reached

Started Jan 2025 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Nov 2026, 22 months after the start.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Mar 18, 2025
First posted
Mar 24, 2025
StartActual
Jan 21, 2025
Primary completionEst.
Nov 2026
CompletionEst.
Nov 2026
Last update
Aug 26, 2026
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Aug 26, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06891716
Lead sponsor
AC Immune SA
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Mar 24, 2025
Start date
Jan 21, 2025
Primary completion
Nov 2026 (estimated)
Completion
Nov 2026 (estimated)
Last update
Aug 26, 2026

Study contacts

Elsmarieke van de Giessen, MD
principal investigator · Amsterdam UMC
Clinical Lead
study director · AC Immune SA

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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