Lilly’s Alzheimer’s Disease Drug Fails in Final-Stage Trial
November 23, 2016 — 6:52 AM EST
NYSE $75.99
Solanezumab didn’t do better than placebo on cognitive tests
Drugmakers shares drop 14 percent, Biogen also falls
Eli Lilly & Co.’s experimental Alzheimer’s treatment solanezumab failed to slow the progression of the neurodegenerative disease, yet another setback to drugmakers and researchers who continue to seek a way to treat one of the most feared ailments in the world.
Patients treated with the drug didn’t show a meaningful slowing of cognitive decline compared to those who got a placebo, Lilly said in a statement Wednesday. The drugmaker said it hasn’t decided what next steps, if any, to take with the drug.
The results of the trial “were not what we had hoped for and we are disappointed for the millions of people waiting for a potential disease-modifying treatment,” said John Lechleiter, Lilly’s outgoing CEO. “We will evaluate the impact of these results on the development plans for solanezumab and our other Alzheimer’s pipeline assets.”
The findings are the latest setback in the quest to find a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, which affects more than 5 million Americans and 40 million people worldwide. More than 100 compounds have failed to show they could slow the condition that robs patients of their minds and eventually their ability to care for themselves.
The shares fell 14 percent to $65.15 at 6:59 a.m. in New York, before the markets opened. Shares of Biogen Inc., which is developing an Alzheimer’s treatment considered closest behind Lilly’s, fell 6 percent to $299.
Trial Failure
Lilly will take a $150 million pretax charge, or about 9 cents a share after tax, related to the trial. It plans to announce 2017 guidance on Dec. 15.
Results from the large, final-stage clinical trial showed that patients with mild Alzheimer’s who took solanezumab didn’t respond better than patients given a placebo on tests of memory and mental function, the Indianapolis-based company said. The drug is designed to latch onto and isolate soluble forms of beta amyloid, the protein that experts believe turns toxic when it forms into clumps between the brain’s synapses.
Lilly said that other measures in the trial “directionally favored” the drug compared to placebo, but the differences were small. More data from the trial will be presented next month at a medical meeting.
November 23, 2016 — 6:52 AM EST
NYSE $75.99
Solanezumab didn’t do better than placebo on cognitive tests
Drugmakers shares drop 14 percent, Biogen also falls
Eli Lilly & Co.’s experimental Alzheimer’s treatment solanezumab failed to slow the progression of the neurodegenerative disease, yet another setback to drugmakers and researchers who continue to seek a way to treat one of the most feared ailments in the world.
Patients treated with the drug didn’t show a meaningful slowing of cognitive decline compared to those who got a placebo, Lilly said in a statement Wednesday. The drugmaker said it hasn’t decided what next steps, if any, to take with the drug.
The results of the trial “were not what we had hoped for and we are disappointed for the millions of people waiting for a potential disease-modifying treatment,” said John Lechleiter, Lilly’s outgoing CEO. “We will evaluate the impact of these results on the development plans for solanezumab and our other Alzheimer’s pipeline assets.”
The findings are the latest setback in the quest to find a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, which affects more than 5 million Americans and 40 million people worldwide. More than 100 compounds have failed to show they could slow the condition that robs patients of their minds and eventually their ability to care for themselves.
The shares fell 14 percent to $65.15 at 6:59 a.m. in New York, before the markets opened. Shares of Biogen Inc., which is developing an Alzheimer’s treatment considered closest behind Lilly’s, fell 6 percent to $299.
Trial Failure
Lilly will take a $150 million pretax charge, or about 9 cents a share after tax, related to the trial. It plans to announce 2017 guidance on Dec. 15.
Results from the large, final-stage clinical trial showed that patients with mild Alzheimer’s who took solanezumab didn’t respond better than patients given a placebo on tests of memory and mental function, the Indianapolis-based company said. The drug is designed to latch onto and isolate soluble forms of beta amyloid, the protein that experts believe turns toxic when it forms into clumps between the brain’s synapses.
Lilly said that other measures in the trial “directionally favored” the drug compared to placebo, but the differences were small. More data from the trial will be presented next month at a medical meeting.
