Elan’s Alzheimer’s vaccine shows positive signs, study finds

ELAN’S experimental Alzheimer’s vaccine, which was pulled from testing after it caused serious side effects, stopped and even reversed the brain disease in some patients a study published in the journal Neuron reveals.

The vaccine’s developers, Elan and Wyeth, have stopped testing of the drug, which was designed to pit the immune system against the debilitating ailment.

The drug caused brain inflammation in 18 of 300 patients who received injections, although the positive findings suggest that similar vaccines under development may be able to save people from the syndrome’s dementia and loss of memory.

Several companies are developing other approaches to attacking plaques in the brain which are believed to cause Alzheimer’s. And Elan is developing modified versions of its vaccine designed to raise antibodies but not the T lymphocyte cells that appear to have been the cause of the brain inflammation.

Elan vice-president Dale B. Schenk said: “We believe they will optimise and focus on the good qualities and eliminate the negative qualities,” he explained.

Mr Dale said the company hopes to gain Food and Drug Administration permission to start testing those products in patients by the end of this year.

University of Toronto Alzheimer’s expert Peter St. George-Hyslop said: “When we learned about the side effects, everyone was disappointed. But this now says we shouldn’t be so fast to run away from this, and we should consider going back and redesigning or trying another approach.”

Alzheimer’s affects 15 million people around the world and any successful drug treatment could deliver hundreds of millions in profits to the manufacturer. It is a disease characterised by a build-up of abnormal proteins in the brain, progressive memory loss and dementia.

When news of the side effects of the Elan’s Alzheimer’s treatment AN-1792 emerged last year share values plummeted. Yesterday, the shares traded 7.95% up at €4.21 on this latest news.