Elan down 9% as partners pull out

Elan suffered a near 9% fall in its share price yesterday after news that its partners have ceased plans for their headline Alzheimer’s disease treatment.

A second failed Phase 3 trial result in as many weeks for Bapineuzumab — the drug first developed by Elan but latterly developed and mostly owned by Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson — has led its owners to abandon further tests; a major setback to their hopes of becoming the first consortium to find a breakthrough for combating dementia and slowing its onset.

Johnson & Johnson alone is set to incur a $300m (€240m) to $400m charge in its third-quarter results, reflecting the writedown of in-process R&D work.