By John Carroll After 25 years of ongoing research, Nobel Prize-winning scientist Paul Greengard is unveiling a new pathway at work in Alzheimer’s–a discovery likely to trigger a fresh burst of R&D work around a new therapy for the mystery disease. Alzheimer’s has proved a vexing target for drug developers. Eli Lilly was bitterly disappointed …
By John Carroll Undaunted by its mixed results trying to come up with a new therapy for Alzheimer’s, Merck has struck a $289 million deal with Canada’s Alectos Therapeutics to collaborate on new molecules for the memory-wasting ailment and other disorders. The pact includes an upfront payment and milestones, but there was no breakout on …
By John Carroll Researchers involved in the ambitious development program for bapineuzumab say that the amyloid-targeting drug also attacks a second key culprit implicated in the mind-wasting disease. Patients enrolled in two mid-stage clinical trials for bapineuzumab demonstrated its effect in lowering the level of tau, a toxic protein that spurs the development of brain tangles. …
By John Carroll Alzheimer’s has long been one of the most difficult and confusing targets in drug development. But lured by the prospect of mega-blockbuster revenue for any new drug that alleviates key symptoms of the memory-wasting disease, Eli Lilly has wagered heavily on two late-stage programs, with more therapies being tested further down the …
By John Carroll A researcher at the University of Oklahoma has nabbed a $75,000 grant to fund new work on the uses of proteases in attacking plaque associated with Alzheimer’s. While pharma companies like Eli Lilly have been pursuing expensive clinical studies of new drugs that target beta amyloid, Peter J. Heinzelman, an associate professor in …
