PhIII Alzheimer’s drug goes bust — and a major setback at Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca may doom the class
Another big Phase III Alzheimer’s program is being scrapped at Eli Lilly $LLY and AstraZeneca $AZN, offering fresh evidence that the entire BACE class may be completely useless in slowing or preventing the disease in symptomatic patients.
The drug this time is lanabecestat, which Lilly grabbed close to 4 years ago in a $500 million pact with AstraZeneca — a modest $50 million in cash. At the time, Lilly was plugging a gap in its Alzheimer’s pipeline after the failure of its own BACE effort due to toxicity issues with that particular medication.
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