Pfizer pulls plug on Alzheimer’s drug
pharmafile | January 18, 2012 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | Medivation, Pfizer, dimebon
Pfizer and Medivation have written off their Alzheimer’s candidate dimebon after another Phase III failure.
The firms said a 12-month study of the drug failed to improve the condition, and adds to the failure of two shorter Phase III studies in which dimebon failed to be more effective than placebo.
The Phase III CONCERT trial studied dimebon (latrepirdine), in combination with Pfizer’s established Alzheimer’s drug Aricept (donepezil), in patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease.
Dimebon did not achieve statistically significant results for either of the two co-primary endpoints, which were to improve cognitive ability and to increase a patient’s ability to look after themselves.
Medivation and Pfizer will now halt development of dimebon for all indications, and will axe the ongoing open-label extension study in Alzheimer’s disease.
This represents a costly write-off as the pact was worth $725 million between the two firms.
Both companies signed a co-development deal for the drug in 2008, which included additional studies in Huntingdon’s disease, but these trials also failed to show efficacy, rounding off a poor showing for the treatment.
This will be a big blow to Pfizer as it was hoping dimebon could follow on from its treatment Aricept, which went off patent in the US in 2010 and will lose its protection across Europe this year.
Steven Romano, head of global primary care business unit at Pfizer, said: “We recognise Alzheimer’s is a very complex disease. Despite this disappointing result, Pfizer remains committed to advancing the science of Alzheimer’s disease, with the ultimate goal of delivering innovative and meaningful new treatment options to patients.”
Pfizer added that dimebon was generally well tolerated in the study, and a full analysis of the results from CONCERT will be presented at an upcoming scientific meeting.
Ben Adams
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