Eli Lilly shares drop as Alzheimer’s drug fails

Eli Lilly’s experimental Alzheimer’s treatment failed to slow the progression of the neurodegenerative disease, yet another setback to drugmakers and researchers who continue to seek a way to treat one of the most feared ailments in the world. The shares fell as much as 14%.

Patients treated with solanezumab didn’t show a meaningful slowing of cognitive decline compared with those who got a placebo, Lilly said. The drugmaker said it hasn’t decided what next steps, if any, to take with the medicine.

The results of the trial “were not what we had hoped for and we are disappointed for the millions of people waiting for a potential disease-modifying treatment,” said John Lechleiter, Lilly’s outgoing CEO.