Posts Tagged ‘Dimebon’

Drug Helps Brain Grow New Cells

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Researchers have found a drug that can help the brain grow new cells, and they said their study may lead to ways to improve experimental Alzheimer’s drugs.

The researchers’ work, done on rodents, builds on findings that all mammals, including humans, make brain cells throughout their lives. Most of these die, but this drug helps more of the baby cells survive and grow to become functioning brain cells.

“We make new neurons every day in our brain,” Andrew Pieper of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas who worked on the study, said in a telephone interview. “What our compound does is allow more of them to survive.”

The compound is called P7C3 for now, and the researchers have already started tweaking it to make it more effective. They said it seems safe and appears to work even when taken as a pill.

The compound is similar to Medivation and Pfizer experimental Alzheimer’s drug, Dimebon, and may provide ways to improve its effects, Pieper and colleagues reported in the journal Cell.

It is also similar to some compounds owned by Serono, the researchers said.

Dimebon, originally a Russian-made antihistamine also known as latrepirdine, failed in a clinical trial for Alzheimer’s disease in March.

“For the sake of patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, it is hoped that the apparently marginal clinical utility of Dimebon might be enhanced by improvements in both its potency and ceiling of proneurogenic, neuroprotective efficacy,” the researchers wrote.

“If so, our work offers concrete assays for the development of improved versions of these neuroprotective drugs.”

Alzheimer’s gradually destroys the brain and affects 26 million people globally. Drugs, such as Pfizer’s Aricept, improve symptoms only minimally.

The researchers went through 1,000 representative compounds from 300,000 chemicals, pooled them, and administered them to mice. They then dissected the brains to see whether any of the mice had made new cells in the hippocampus, a region of the brain associated with learning and memory.

They eventually narrowed the field to P7C3.

When they gave it to old rats for two months, the elderly rodents did far better than other old rats in learning their way around a water maze.

When dissected, the treated rats turned out to have three times the usual number of newborn neurons in a brain region called the dentate gyrus.

They made a derivative of P7C3 called A20 that worked even better

When the researchers tested Dimebon and the Serono compounds, they found these drugs also stimulated the growth of new brain cells. Being able to target their effects could lead to better drugs to treat Alzheimer’s and perhaps other diseases that destroy brain cells like strokes and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

“This striking demonstration of a treatment that stems age-related cognitive decline in living animals points the way to potential development of the first cures that will address the core illness process in Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute on Mental Health, which helped pay for the study.

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New Drug Shows Promise Growing Brain Cells

Friday, August 20th, 2010

Alzheimer’s patients, brain injury patients, and dementia sufferers may benefit from a newly discovered pill that grows brain cells. The drug, currently labeled P7C3 while it undergoes continued study, appears to provide a safe and effective option that helps support developing brain cells to become viable. Testing done on rats demonstrated that the older rats who had been dosed with P7C3 were capable of learning their way

through a maze when other rats, who had not received the drug, could not. The researchers hope the drug can be used to increase the effectiveness of Alzheimer’s drugs like Dimebon, which recently failed in clinical trials.

“For the sake of patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, it is hoped that the apparently marginal clinical utility of Dimebon might be enhanced by improvements in both its potency and ceiling of proneurogenic, neuroprotective efficacy,” the researchers wrote. “If so, our work offers concrete assays for the development of improved versions of these neuroprotective drugs.”

More than 25 million people currently suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, which is a progressive disease that destroys the brain until autonomic functions cease and the sufferer dies. P7C3 represents a hopeful breakthrough in research that could lend itself to other areas of brain trauma treatment, including helping people with ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease).

Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute on Mental Health, said, “This striking demonstration of a treatment that stems age-related cognitive decline in living animals points the way to potential development of the first cures that will address the core illness process in Alzheimer’s disease.” The National Institute on Mental Health helped fund the study.

The rats that were treated with the drug had three times as many developing brain cells. Researchers have since used P7C3 to create a derivative drug called A20 that shows even more promise. When the derivative was combined with Dimebon and Sereno, two test-phase Alzheimer treatments, it caused new brain cell growth stimulation.

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A pill to make you smarter? Drug grows brain cells

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010

Researchers have found a drug that can help the brain grow new cells and said their study may lead to ways to improve experimental Alzheimer’s drugs.

The researchers’ work, done on rodents, builds on findings that all mammals, including humans, make brain cells throughout their lives. Most of these die, but this drug helps more of the baby cells survive and grow to become functioning brain cells.

“We make new neurons every day in our brain,” Andrew Pieper of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre in Dallas who worked on the study, said in a telephone interview. “What our compound does in allow more of them to survive.”

The compound is called P7C3 for now, and the researchers have already started tweaking it to make it more effective. They said it seems safe and appears to work even when taken as a pill.

The compound is similar to Medivation Inc (MDVN.O) and Pfizer Inc’s (PFE.N) experimental Alzheimer’s drug, Dimebon, and may provide ways to improve its effects, Pieper and colleagues reported in the journal Cell.

It is also similar to some compounds owned by Serono, the researchers said.

Dimebon, originally a Russian-made antihistamine also known as latrepirdine, failed in a clinical trial for Alzheimer’s disease in March.

“For the sake of patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, it is hoped that the apparently marginal clinical utility of Dimebon might be enhanced by improvements in both its potency and ceiling of proneurogenic, neuroprotective efficacy,” the researchers wrote.

“If so, our work offers concrete assays for the development of improved versions of these neuroprotective drugs.”

Alzheimer’s gradually destroys the brain and affects 26 million people globally. Drugs, such as Pfizer’s Aricept, improve symptoms only minimally.

OLD RATS, NEW TRICKS

The researchers went through 1,000 representative compounds from 300,000 chemicals, pooled them and administered them to mice. They then dissected the brains to see whether any of the mice had made new cells in the hippocampus, a region of the brain associated with learning and memory.

They eventually narrowed the field to P7C3.

When they gave it to old rats for two months, the elderly rodents did far better than other old rats in learning their way around a water maze.

When dissected, the treated rats turned out to have three times the usual number of newborn neurons in a brain region called the dentate gyrus.

They made a derivative of P7C3 called A20 that worked even better.

When the researchers tested Dimebon and the Serono compounds, they found these drugs also stimulated the growth of new brain cells. Being able to target their effects could lead to better drugs to treat Alzheimer’s and perhaps other diseases that destroy brain cells like strokes and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also know as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

“This striking demonstration of a treatment that stems age-related cognitive decline in living animals points the way to potential development of the first cures that will address the core illness process in Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute on Mental Health, which helped pay for the study.

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UK Studies to Look at Alzheimer’s, Down Syndrome

Monday, July 12th, 2010

The University of Kentucky Sanders-Brown Center on Aging is looking for two groups of patients to help learn more about Alzheimer’s disease.

One study will examine how a new drug can supplement existing treatment; the other focuses on Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s.

The first study is looking at how the drug Dimebon can help Alzheimer’s patients already taking Aricept.

Because Alzheimer’s is a complex disease, patients sometimes need multiple drugs to address their symptoms, said Dr. Gregory Jicha, assistant professor of neurology at the UK College of Medicine. Aricept is one of the most widely prescribed Alzheimer’s drugs in the country.

Dimebon is thought to improve the mitochondrial function in brain cells, preventing damage. Cell parts called mitochondria are critical to brain function because they are the primary source of cells’ energy.

Aricept appears to enhance the brain’s concentration of acetylcholine, an enzyme crucial to memory and learning, he said.

Jicha said a good candidate for this study would have relatively mild symptoms. “In the early stage of the disease people can understand what the trial means and participate in the decision to help find better medicine and potential cures for Alzheimer’s,” he said.

The UK effort is part of an international project that will evaluate more than 1,000 patients, including at least a dozen at UK.

Another new research project looks at the connection between Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s. The $2.4 million, five-year study will look at how Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease may affect a person’s memory and thinking as they get older, said Dr. Elizabeth Head, who will lead the study.

The study will recruit and follow 40 people older than 35 with Down syndrome. In addition, 10 to 12 people with Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease will be recruited for a single research session.

The Down syndrome patients without Alzheimer’s will be tested every six months.

Head said the life expectancy of Down syndrome patients has increased dramatically over the years but the services they need as they age have not kept up. “There is really not a whole lot out there for them,” she said. “They are a little underserved.”

At the same time, she said, Down syndrome patients offer a unique opportunity to study Alzheimer’s. The chromosomal abnormality that creates Down syndrome also results in the overproduction of the protein that causes Alzheimer’s.

“They make a protein that causes Alzheimer’s disease. They are making too much of it from birth,” she said.

Most middle-age Down syndrome patients have full-blown Alzheimer’s disease in their brain but not all of them develop dementia, she said. Understanding how they continue to function could be key to helping others with Alzheimer’s, she said.

More than 400,000 people in the United States have Down syndrome. Overall, 50 percent of people with Down syndrome age 55 and older may have Alzheimer’s disease.

Overall, some 5.3 million in the United States have Alzheimer’s. According to the Alzheimer’s Association that number is expected to increase dramatically as the baby boomer generation continues to age.

Jicha said it’s possible if a patient isn’t right for one of these studies, several more are currently underway that might be a better fit.

“We always have a variety of opportunities,” he said. “Every study has a different number demands.”

“We are trying to build an army to fight Alzheimer’s,” he said. “That army doesn’t just include doctors and researchers but battalions of patients willing to pick up these new weapons to join the fight.”

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Medivation Reports First Quarter 2010 Financial Results and Provides Corporate Update

Friday, July 9th, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO, May 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ – Medivation, Inc. (Nasdaq: MDVN) today provided a corporate update and reported its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2010.

“After thorough review of all available dimebon data, including the disappointing CONNECTION results, Medivation remains committed to determining whether dimebon may offer clinical benefit to Alzheimer’s and Huntington disease patients,” said David Hung, MD, president and chief executive officer of Medivation.  ”We will continue to enroll patients in the 12-month Phase 3 CONCERT trial in mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s patients and the six-month Phase 3 HORIZON study in Huntington disease, and will stop our two ongoing Phase 3 trials in moderate-to-severe Alzheimer’s disease.  In reaching this conclusion, we considered all dimebon data generated thus far, including the negative CONNECTION data, the clinical benefit seen in two prior dimebon trials in mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease and Huntington disease, the excellent safety and tolerability profile in all dimebon trials to date covering more than 2,000 patients, the preclinical data consistently showing that dimebon is pharmacologically active, and the potential risks and returns of continuing development for Alzheimer’s and Huntington diseases.  We believe both the CONCERT and HORIZON studies offer independent pathways to registration, and we will be meeting with the Food and Drug Administration this quarter to discuss the CONNECTION data and obtain guidance on our proposed regulatory path forward.”

“We also continue to make progress on our MDV3100 program,” continued Dr. Hung. “This year we and our partner Astellas expect to complete enrollment in the Phase 3 AFFIRM trial in advanced prostate cancer patients and to initiate three new trials in earlier-stage prostate cancer, including a second Phase 3 trial. Our cash position remains strong and, based on current assumptions, we expect our cash to last beyond 2012, without regard to whether Pfizer elects to remain in our dimebon collaboration.  We also expect to have reported top-line data from the CONCERT, HORIZON and AFFIRM trials by the end of 2012.”

Recent Accomplishments and Anticipated Milestones

Dimebon (latrepirdine*)

  • Completed an analysis of data from the Phase 3 CONNECTION trial in patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease, and confirmed that dimebon did not show clinical benefit in this trial. The analysis did not identify any systematic issues with the conduct of the trial or with the drug product that would explain the results.
  • Continued to enroll patients in CONCERT, with the goal of completing patient accrual in 2010. This 12-month randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 3 clinical trial in patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease is evaluating the potential efficacy of dimebon when added to ongoing treatment with donepezil.
  • Continued to enroll patients in HORIZON, with the goal of completing patient accrual in 2010. This six-month, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 3 trial is evaluating dimebon’s potential benefits on cognition in patients with Huntington disease.
  • Agreed with our partner Pfizer to discontinue the CONSTELLATION and CONTACT Phase 3 trials in patients with moderate-to-severe Alzheimer’s disease. These trials were part of a label expansion strategy for dimebon, which can be revisited at a later time if the results of the ongoing CONCERT trial warrant.

*Latrepirdine is the proposed generic name for dimebon.

MDV3100

  • Announced publication in The Lancet of positive efficacy data from the Phase 1-2 trial of MDV3100 in advanced prostate cancer patients. MDV3100 demonstrated anti-tumor activity as evaluated by reductions in prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels, radiographic findings and circulating tumor cell (CTC) counts.  MDV3100 was generally well-tolerated in this trial at doses up to and including 240 mg/day.
  • Continued to enroll patients in the AFFIRM trial, with the goal of completing patient accrual in 2010. This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 3 survival trial is evaluating 160 mg/day of MDV3100 in men with castration-resistant prostate cancer who have been previously treated with docetaxel-based chemotherapy.
  • Obtained issuance of a U.S. patent claiming MDV3100′s composition of matter.  The term of this patent runs through 2027, and under current law is eligible for up to five years’ patent term extension based on time spent pursuing regulatory approval to market MDV3100.
  • On track to initiate three new MDV3100 trials in earlier-stage prostate cancer this year: a Phase 3 trial in men with chemotherapy-naive castration-resistant prostate cancer; a Phase 2 head-to-head trial comparing MDV3100 with bicalutamide; and a Phase 1 trial in hormone-naive patients. Initiation of the Phase 3 trial would trigger a $10 million milestone payment under our collaboration agreement with Astellas.

Corporate

  • Implemented a 20 percent workforce reduction to focus resources on the prioritized CONCERT and HORIZON dimebon trials and expanded development of MDV3100.

First Quarter 2010 Financial Results

Revenue for the first quarter of 2010 was $15.7 million, consisting of partial recognition of the non-refundable up-front payments of $225.0 million received from Pfizer in the fourth quarter of 2008 and $110.0 million received from Astellas in the fourth quarter of 2009. Both up-front payments were recorded as deferred revenue upon receipt and are being recognized on a straight-line basis over the estimated performance period of the Company’s obligations under the applicable collaboration agreement, which the Company presently expects to complete in the second quarter of 2013 for the Pfizer collaboration and in the fourth quarter of 2014 for the Astellas collaboration.

For the three months ended March 31, 2010, total operating expenses were $33.4 million, compared with total operating expenses of $22.1 million for the same period in 2009.  These figures include non-cash stock-based compensation expense of $3.5 million in the quarter ended March 31, 2010, compared with $2.6 million for the same period in 2009.

Beginning in October 2008, Pfizer became responsible for 60 percent of all dimebon-related development and commercialization costs in the U.S., and 100 percent of such costs outside the U.S.  Beginning in October 2009, Astellas became responsible for 50 percent of all MDV3100-related development and commercialization costs in the U.S. (other than costs for clinical trials supporting development in both the U.S. and either Europe or Japan, including the ongoing Phase 3 AFFIRM trial and the two additional trials in earlier-stage prostate cancer we expect to initiate in 2010, which are borne two-thirds by Astellas and one-third by Medivation) and 100 percent of such costs outside the U.S.  The parties make quarterly true-up payments as necessary to ensure that each bears its applicable share of costs.  For the first quarter of 2010, the net true-up payments payable to Medivation were $4.6 million and $6.1 million under the Pfizer and Astellas collaborations, respectively.  Medivation presents these cost-sharing true-up payments in the applicable expense line of its consolidated statement of operations.

Medivation reported a net loss for the quarter ended March 31, 2010, of $17.5 million, or $0.51 per share, compared with a net loss of $5.6 million, or $0.19 per share, for the same period in 2009.

Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments at March 31, 2010, totaled $255.5 million, compared with $278.2 million at December 31, 2009.

2010-12 Financial Outlook

Medivation currently expects that total operating expenses for 2010, net of cost-sharing payments from Pfizer and Astellas, will be between $105 and $115 million.  This forecast includes approximately $13.5 million of non-cash stock-based compensation expense.  We also expect to receive a $10 million milestone payment from Astellas in 2010 upon initiation of the second Phase 3 study of MDV3100.

Medivation believes that its existing cash resources are adequate to fund its currently budgeted operations beyond 2012, without regard to whether Pfizer elects to remain in the dimebon collaboration.  By the end of 2012, the Company expects to have reported top-line data from the CONCERT trial in mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease, the HORIZON trial in Huntington disease, and the AFFIRM trial in castration-resistant prostate cancer patients who have failed chemotherapy.

Conference Call Information

To participate by telephone in today’s live call beginning at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time, please call 877-303-2523 from the U.S. or +1-253-237-1755 internationally.  In addition, the live conference call is being webcast and can be accessed on the “Events and Presentations” page of the “Investor Relations” section of the Company’s website at www.medivation.com.  A replay also will be available for 30 days following the live call.

About Medivation

Medivation, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the rapid development of novel small molecule drugs to treat serious diseases for which there are limited treatment options.  Medivation aims to transform the treatment of these diseases and offer hope to critically ill patients and their caregivers.  In September 2008, Medivation announced a global agreement with Pfizer, Inc to develop and commercialize dimebon (latrepirdine) for the treatment of Alzheimer’s and Huntington diseases.  With Pfizer, Medivation is conducting a clinical development program that includes CONCERT, a Phase 3 trial assessing dimebon in patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease, and HORIZON, a Phase 3 trial of dimebon in Huntington disease.  In October 2009, Medivation entered into a global agreement with Astellas Pharma Inc. to develop and commercialize MDV3100 for both early- and late-stage prostate cancer.  The first Phase 3 clinical trial in the MDV3100 development program, known as the AFFIRM trial, is under way in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer who have previously been treated with docetaxel-based chemotherapy.  Additional trials in earlier-stage prostate cancer will begin in 2010.  For more information, please visit us at www.medivation.com.

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Pfizer halts late-stage testing of cancer drug

Saturday, July 3rd, 2010

Pfizer Inc. has halted another late-stage drug trial, this time announcing that its near-blockbuster therapy Sutent had failed because of a high rate of serious events in liver-cancer patients taking doses of the medicine.

“The disappointing outcome of this trial challenges all of us to work harder to understand the complex biology of this disease,” Mace Rothenberg, senior vice president of Clinical Development and Medical Affairs for Pfizer’s Oncology Business Unit, said in a statement.

The drug-trial failure comes at a critical time for Pfizer, as several of its leading drugs, including cholesterol treatment Lipitor, near the end of their patent protection over the next two years. The potential loss in revenue would be more than $15 billion without new drugs to take their place, according to industry figures.

Sutent, which recorded nearly $1 billion in sales last year, has received FDA approval for use in people with advanced kidney and stomach cancer, and Pfizer continues testing the drug on a variety of other cancers.

Just last month, Pfizer stopped two late-stage studies of Sutent, known generically as sunitinib malate, saying it did not help patients with advanced breast cancer. At the same time, it ended a cancer trial involving the monoclonal antibody figitumamab, saying it had proved ineffective.

Previously, a late-stage trial of the potential Alzheimer’s blockbuster Dimebon had crashed and burned.

The most recent Sutent trial stoppage occurred after an independent Data Monitoring Committee determined the drug led to an increase in serious adverse events when compared to standard liver-cancer therapy using Bayer’s Nexavar treatment. In addition, Sutent did not demonstrate any significant difference in overall survival rates compared with Nexavar, according to a statement from Pfizer.

Although Pfizer’s largest research-and-development contingent is in Groton and New London, its cancer research is based in California.

Rothenberg said Sutent’s disappointing results in helping liver-cancer patients do not diminish Pfizer’s confidence that the drug is still effective in renal cell cancer and for gastrointestinal stromal tumors.

In addition, he said Pfizer will continue looking at how Sutent can help patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common form of liver cancer, as well as advanced non-small cell lung cancer and advanced castration-resistant prostate cancer.

It is also being studied as an add-on therapy for renal cell carcinoma.

“We are committed to patient safety and are working with investigators to better understand these trial results and their implications for clinical practice,” Rothenberg said.

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Pfizer gets ‘bearish’ review

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

Activity in Pfizer Inc. stock has reached bearish proportions, according to Sarah Wasserman, a blogger for Schaeffer’s Options Center.

Wasserman said so-called “put options,” which indicates a downward stock trend, had been more than double its daily average Monday. She also noted Pfizer’s nearly yearlong losing streak as the company’s stock has dropped 7.6 percent.

Wasserman offered no analysis of Pfizer’s current stock woes, although a series of pipeline failures – including the sudden end of a trial involving the promising Alzheimer’s drug Dimebon – has been cited by others.

“Skepticism toward (Pfizer) among near-term traders is quickly mounting,” Wasserman said.

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Alzheimer’s researchers see advances, setbacks

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

MARIN COUNTY, CA (KGO) — Recent developments in Alzheimer’s research are underscoring the hope and frustration involved in trying to conquer the disease. While potential treatments are moving forward, others have taken a step back.

Former teacher Jean Simpson can still rip through a crossword puzzle with the vocabulary she has built over decades, but at the same time, she no longer has enough short-term memory to read a book.

“I can’t remember once I get to page six. It’s like, ‘Whoops. What was that they said back there?’” she says.

She is taking part in a phase three clinical trial, testing a new drug that shows promise for treating Alzheimer’s disease. It is an open-label trial which means all patients will receive the drug Bapineuzumab.

Alzheimer’s researcher Jerome Goldstein says it is “a medication that addresses the plaques, the amaloy plaques in Alzheimer’s disease.”

Dr. Goldstein says a new imaging technique has allowed researchers to document the drug’s effect on the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, where it was recently shown to reduce clumps of plaque associated with the disease. In clinical trials, patients also showed some slowing of their memory loss.

“At the present time, we see some degree of stabilizations of the disorder,” Goldstein says.

But, in a battle where even marginal progress is a victory, he is still cautious about any long-term predictions for Bapinuezumab.

In early March, another highly-publicized drug, developed in part by Bay Area start-up Medivation, failed a late-stage clinical trial. The future of that drug, Dimebon, is now unclear.

“The main point here is that we’re 100 years into knowing the description of Alzheimer’s disease without any effective treatment,” says Dr. Dale Bredesen at the Buck Institute for Age Research in Marin County.

The Buck Institute is one of several labs now working on alternative targets for Alzheimer’s drugs.

“We have a completely different view of this disease and it used to be thought that the plaques were the bad actors and it looks more now like they’re the garbage dumps. Yes, they can smell bad. Yes, they can look bad, but they’re not the most important thing,” Bredesen says.

Buck Institute researchers have focused on a protein that helps guide nerves and their connections in the brain, rather than targeting the plaque. A video provided by the Buck Institute shows mice, genetically-altered with the same mutation found in people with Alzheimer’s can no longer swim to their target in the pool. But, when scientists alter the protein, the mice quickly find their goal.

That research has evolved and scientists have found the addition of a protein called Netrin-1 has a similar effect.

At Goldstein’s San Francisco clinic, Jean Simpson is hoping the current trial of Bapineuzumab will eventually lead to a new therapy to slow the symptoms of a disease that now affects more than five million people in the U.S.

“So, if they find something with one of us, we’ve gained, and that’s why I’m here,” Simpson says. “I just hope that it works and can help others.”

Johnson & Johnson, the parent company of Elan — the group that is testing Bapineuzumab — has announced that they are extending the length of the clinical trial before they release results. Researchers say the company wants a larger pool of patients before they take their data to the FDA.

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Pfizer Drug Filings on Track Despite Setbacks

Monday, June 7th, 2010

LONDON (Reuters) – It’s been a bad month for Pfizer’s research labs but its head of R&D says the world’s biggest drugmaker is on track to hit earlier targets for new drug filings despite the setbacks.

“We have had some disappointments, there is no getting away from it,” Martin Mackay told Reuters during a visit to Britain.

Dimebon’s lack of efficacy in Alzheimer’s disease was “extremely disappointing,” although Mackay said it was “a wee bit early” to say the drug, which Pfizer has developed with Medivation , was now dead.

Pfizer has also seen failures this month with Sutent in breast cancer and figitumumab in lung cancer.

have plenty more big drugs coming down the pipeline, even though cutbacks in the research budget are planned in the wake of the Wyeth merger.

“It (R&D spending) will drop somewhat over the next two years in line with the commitments we’ve made to savings,” he said. “But if we can’t come up with great medicines with a budget of $8 billion or $9 billion, shame on us.”

Some analysts have worried that these problems mean the company will no longer meet its goal of filing 15 to 20 new drugs or new indications for regulatory approval between 2010 and 2012 — a target that was set in March 2008.

Mackay denied this was the case.

“When we had the three failures I went straight to the data and looked at it again to make sure that we could still be on target. And clearly the 15 to 20 was already attrition-adjusted, so we are still within that range,” he said.

While the goal was set before Pfizer bought Wyeth last year, Mackay stressed it still referred only to legacy Pfizer products and any filing contributions from Wyeth would be in addition to this total.

$9 BILLION R&D BUDGET

Like many major drugmakers, Pfizer has struggled in recent years to get a decent return out of its vast R&D machine, which currently spends more than $9 billion a year in the hunt for new medicines.

Yet, despite disappointing productivity, Mackay said the science had never been better and he remains confident that Pfizer will always remain here.

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Three Pfizer Cancer Treatments Fail to Materialize Results

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

Just one week after announcing that a drug targeting Alzheimer’s has failed to generate results, Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) said that three potential cancer treatments that it was developing have been terminated during late-stage studies.

The New York-based drug development firm said on Thursday that it had stopped a lung cancer trial involving the monoclonal antibody figitumamab after outside monitors determined that the drug would not likely demonstrate any effectiveness.

Pfizer also said that two late-stage studies of Sutent, also known as sunitinib malate, did not provide meaningful help to patients with advanced breast cancer.

The failures of the three drugs comes as the company made an announcement last week that its promising Alzheimer’s drug, Dimebon, had shown no results in two separate studies. Pfizer’s Groton and New London R&D offices were involved in the development of Dimebon, although the company’s oncology research center is headquartered in California.

“Pfizer remains committed to the development program for sunitinib and is continuing to study its potential role in the treatment of other solid tumors,” the company said in a statement, including lung, liver, prostate and bladder cancer.

Sutent’s results in treating advanced-stage breast cancer were similar to those in late-stage colon cancer patients. A study of colon-cancer patients using Sutent ended last year when the drug was found to be no more effective than standard chemotherapy. Sutent has already been approved for treating advanced kidney cancer and stomach tumors.

Pfizer said that it would continue looking at figitumamab to treat prostate, breast and lung cancers.

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