"During the AGM, Don said they’d applied for a new patent on the basis of BETonMACE. Whatever it is, they wasted no time. Could it be to do with an effect on cognitive function?"

I hadn't thought of that. I was thinking more along the lines of alkaline phosphatase. But the patent could also be related to another biomarker, clinical readout (cognition, renal), or drug synergy (i.e. like rosuvastatin but something new). Very exciting.

"The embargo extension to the end of March requested by some investigators, which Don mentioned towards the end of his talk, might have been to wait for the World Congress on Neuroscience and Brain Disorders, London, 23-24 March. If so, it would suggest they think the results worthy of a bigger meeting than the Alzheimer’s in December. Academics generally prefer to present their most exciting data at the biggest international conferences even if it means bypassing earlier opportunities to do so at smaller meetings."

I assumed that Don was referring to the American College of Cardiology 2020 meeting (being held jointly with the World Congress of Cardiology) March 28-30, 2020. My guess is that some of the BETonMACE investigators wanted to keep a lid on some of the data (perhaps the pre-specified sub-group comparisons of the primary outcome, etc) until this meeting. From the webcast though, Don made it sound like he laughed this notion off and plans to reveal pretty much everything except cognition data between Nov 16-Nov 18th.

BDAZ