Pfizer and Janssen’s Alzheimer’s drug fails
pharmafile | July 24, 2012 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | Alzheimer's, Janssen, Pfizer, bapineuzumab
Pfizer and Janssen’s investigational Alzheimer’s drug bapineuzumab is no better than placebo, according to a new study.
The Phase III trial showed the drug failed to change cognitive and functional performance in Alzheimer’s patients when compared to a dummy pill.
The drug works by targeting brain plaques, and this study – one of four ongoing trials for the drug – was being tested in patients with a gene called ApoE4, which makes them more likely to get the disease.
Bapineuzumab is an injectable monoclonal antibody and works by attacking the beta-amyloid protein that is believed to play a key role in Alzheimer’s disease.
The drug is in a race with Lilly’s solanezumab, a similar treatment in Phase III, to become the first therapy to target the cause of Alzheimer’s, rather than just its symptoms.
These new Alzheimer’s drugs could lead to a market for the treatments worth $20 billion, according to Barbara Ryan, an analyst with Deutsche Bank.
They are looking to build upon current Alzheimer’s treatments such as Pfizer/Eisai’s Aricept, which slows the progress of the disease.
But many analysts are not optimistic about the chances that the pipeline drugs can improve cognitive function and quality of life. This is because patients in all the studies already have symptoms, and have tissue damage that is difficult to reverse.
But even secondary benefits, such as delaying loss of memory above and beyond what existing treatments can do, would make the treatments worthwhile.
“While we are disappointed in the results of this first study, the Phase II trials suggested that ApoE4 non-carriers may have a better chance of benefiting from bapineuzumab than ApoE4 carriers,” Janssen said.
The company said results of its companion study in non-carriers due later this year “will shed more light on this possibility”.
Ben Adams
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