Curing What Ails Alzheimer’s Drug Development

Biomarkers will be key to winning the race to a successful AD drug. Even then, drugmakers must build the infrastructure for getting therapy to the right patients at the right time.

IV1712_Alzheimer_1200.jpg

As the drug industry has seen over the past decade with immunotherapy in cancer, success breeds success and opens the door to investment in new targets and rationales. That’s long been the hope in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) drug development, where a hard-to-segment patient population and large, lengthy, expensive trials have continued to frustrate companies. The pharma industry claims to be learning from the past, but the pattern of high-profile, late-stage failures, most recently by Axovant Sciences Ltd. and Merck & Co. Inc., is unbroken. Success remains elusive. (Also see "Disappointed, Yes, But Roivant's Not Roiled By Axovant's Alzheimer's Failure" - Scrip, 27 September, 2017.) (Also see "Another Nail In Amyloid Hypothesis Coffin? Merck Ends Pivotal BACE Inhibitor Study" - Scrip, 15 February, 2017.)

On the bright side, it is conceivable that in the next two to four years, one of the AD drug candidates now in late-stage trials may well become the first...

Read the full article – start your free trial today!

Join thousands of industry professionals who rely on In Vivo for daily insights

  • Start your 7-day free trial
  • Explore trusted news, analysis, and insights
  • Access comprehensive global coverage
  • Enjoy instant access – no credit card required

More from Business Strategy

AI In Drug Discovery: The Patent Implications

 
• By 

A Q&A with DeAnn Smith, partner and co-chair of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board Proceedings Practice Group at law firm Foley Hoag.

Is Advanced AI Revolutionizing Sales Enablement In Pharma?

 
• By 

Advanced AI is revolutionizing sales enablement by addressing training gaps and performance challenges. Used correctly, it can help to bridge the sales-marketing divide, accelerate ramp-up times and provide managers with data-driven insights.

Laying The Foundation And Overcoming Prerequisites To Establish AI Within Health Care

 
• By 

As the health care industry undergoes a digital transformation, the integration of AI into Quality and Regulatory Management Systems is proving essential. The challenges for successful AI deployment emphasize the need for robust digital infrastructure, data literacy programs and privacy measures to enhance patient safety and commercial performance.

Aurion Biotech’s Ophthalmic Cell Therapy For The Masses

 
• By 

Aurion Biotech is developing a cell therapy for corneal diseases that is cheap enough to produce and can be scaled that it should reach the masses in a way that other cell therapies cannot.

More from In Vivo

US Health System Redesign Critical, NAM’s Medical Experts Warn Trump Government

 
• By 

The whirlwind back-and-forth on US tariffs and Robert F. Kennedy jr.’s plans to deregulate health care have become all-preoccupying, but the National Academy of Medicine was first to set out President Trump’s health administration priorities.

Podcast: “Powerful Yet Unexplored”: Commit Biologics Tackles The Complement System

 

Mikkel Wandahl Pederson, CEO and chief scientific officer at Commit Biologics, discussed the company’s mission to harness the powerful complement system for the treatment of serious diseases.

ML-Assisted Genetic Risk Score Predicts GLP-1 Adverse Events

 
• By 

Phenomix Science presented new data at Digestive Disease Week 2025 showing its machine learning-assisted genetic risk score can predict nausea and side effects from GLP-1 receptor agonists, aiding personalized obesity treatment.