Pfizer-Backed Experimental Drug for Alzheimer’s Fails in Trial
Friday, March 12th, 2010
Bad news on the Alzheimer’s drug development front: Pfizer and Medivation announced negative results from a large late-stage trial of Dimebon, thought to be a promising treatment more potent than those currently on the market.Dimebon, you may remember, got its start a quarter-century ago as a Russian cold medicine that Pfizer plunked down $225 million for licensing rights in 2008. The deal also included potential milestone payments of as much as $500 million.The drug, considered to be the compound furthest along of those in development to treat Alzheimer’s, had shown impressive effects in a trial 183 Russian patients. But scientists in the field have questioned the small size of the study and the whether the findings could be applied to other populations since it was conducte…
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