Eli Lilly and and AstraZeneca have announced they will discontinue late-stage trials testing their Alzheimer’s treatment, a beta secretase cleaving enzyme (BACE) inhibitor called lanabecestat.
According to the two drugmakers, the decision was based on recommendations by an independent data monitoring committee that discovered that the trials were not likely to meet their primary goals.
"The complexity of Alzheimer's disease poses one of the most difficult medical challenges of our time, and we are deeply disappointed for the millions suffering from this devastating disease," said Daniel Skovronsky, president of Lilly Research Labs. "We are grateful for the contributions of the study participants and their families and encourage them to consider other Alzheimer's disease clinical trials. Lilly remains dedicated to Alzheimer's disease research as we have been for the last three decades. We won't give up on finding a solution for Alzheimer's patients."
The IDMC recommendation to stop the studies was not based on safety concerns. The Lilly and AstraZeneca BACE Alliance for lanabecestat remains in place, and the companies will now work with the clinical trial sites involved to implement the discontinuations.
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