Elan presents data on new Alzheimers drug

Elan Corporation and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals last night announced key findings from a clinical trial of a new Alzheimers treatment, AN-1792, at the International Conference on Alzheimers Disease and Related Disorders in Philadelphia.

Although dosing with AN-1792 was halted in January 2002 after reports of encephalitis in some patients, the the patients were followed in the study until December 2002.

While clinical development of AN-1792 has been terminated, the results presented support the beta amyloid immunotherapy approach, which is thought to treat Alzheimers disease using an immunologic approach to clear beta amyloid from the brain.

The results include no worsening on a neuropsychological test battery, including the memory component, at 12 months in patients who developed an antibody response to AN-1792, compared to the control group.

Ela begins the day on the ISEQ at €19.86.