Prothena spins out of Elan

Elan has carried out the demerger of its drug discovery activities into a new company, which it has named Prothena. The operation, which the firm announced back in August when its Phase III Alzheimer's antibody, intravenous bapineuzumab, partnered with Janssen and Pfizer, failed in a pivotal trial, conducted by Janssen (scripintelligence.com, 7 August 2012, 13 August 2012 and 15 August 2012).