Eli Lilly shares tank after Alzheimer’s drug fails in late-stage trial

Nov 23 Roche said on Wednesday it still believed drugs targeting a protein called beta amyloid had potential to help fight Alzheimer’s disease, despite the high-profile failure of such a product from Eli Lilly. One involves patients with a rare, inherited form of Alzheimer’s, and the other is a prevention trial of people who have no symptoms but have deposits of amyloid in their brain as seen on scans.

“Crenezumab and gantenerumab are distinct from each other, as well as from other investigational medicines”. He said earlier-stage trials results showed a 34 percent decline in slowing of cognitive functions.

The news pushed down the stocks of Lilly, Biogen, and other drug makers that are working on Alzheimer’s therapies.

RISING RUSSELL RECORDS: The Russell 2000 index of small-company stocks, which has risen for the previous 13 trading days, fell in early trading but recovered and moved 0.3 percent higher as of early afternoon.

One of the biggest hopes is a class of experimental drugs called BACE inhibitors, which work by blocking production of beta amyloid. However, a breakdown of the trial results gave hope that it may be effective for patients with early, mild symptoms of the disease.

The aging of baby boomers, many of whom are caring for parents suffering from Alzheimer’s, has created a sense of urgency in the medical community.

Professor Bryce Vissel from the University of Technology, Sydney, says there are many drugs in the pipeline that are testing different ways of slowing or reversing Alzheimer’s.

“For Biogen and other companies in the Alzheimer’s field, this is a serious blow”, Leerink Partners analyst Seamus Fernandez said in a research note carrying the headline “Burnt Turkey for Biotech investors”.

Studies have shown that removing the amyloid plaques that congregate between the synapses in the brain, the ones used to definitively diagnose Alzheimer’s during an autopsy, isn’t enough to reverse the disease’s mental impairment.

He added that data will be closely scrutinized at an upcoming Alzheimer’s conference next month, where the Lilly data will be presented, including biomarkers that can be directly compared to results that Biogen will present from its own Phase 1 trial.

Eli Lilly has made a decision to not move forward with regulatory submissions for solanezumab for the treatment of mild dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease.

Gandy said amyloid drugs may work best in patients who have yet to develop plaques readable on scans.

John Scotti, an analyst at Evercore ISI, said investors appeared “roughly just above a coin flip” on whether the drug would hit its primary endpoint of significantly improving cognition in patients with a mild form of Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer’s is a degenerative, fatal disease that impairs memory and thought. The drug is still being tried in two other studies, and at least 18 other drugs are in late-stage testing, including several similar to solanezumab.

“We recognize that we are very early in our understanding of the disease process overall”, Maria Carrillo, chief science officer at the Alzheimer’s Association, a nonprofit which funds research and provides patient support, said in an interview.

Incoming CEO David Ricks told “Squawk Box” that Lilly had been planning for this worst-case scenario, and still expects to grow without the drug.

Eli Lilly had said in July that intermediate results were promising.

Such an approach would require decades of treatment, an expensive and potentially risky endeavor if the therapy has even mild side effects that could emerge, or increase, over time, said Sam Gandy, associate director of the Mount Sinai Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center in NY.