Though Myriad Genetics was hoping its experimental Alzheimer’s drug Flurizan would surprise naysayers in the scientific and investment communities, the company instead announced that its Phase III clinical trial did indeed fail.
The company said Monday that the 18-month, 1,684-patient study – the largest Alzheimer’s-treatment study to date – showed Flurizan failed to improve cognitive functioning or activities of daily living, and added that Myriad is abandoning further efforts to develop the drug. This leaves Elan and Wyeth’s bapineuzumab and Eli Lilly’s gamma secretase inhibitor as the two leading candidates among disease-modifying Alzheimer’s drugs in development.
