Lilly’s solanezumab flunks latest Alzheimer’s study

Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) slips 4% premarket on light volume in reaction to its announcement that solanezumab failed to achieve the primary endpoint in a Phase 2/3 platform trial, DIAN-TU, in people at risk for or with dominantly inherited Alzheimer’s disease (AD) (caused by rare gene mutations).

Results will be presented at the Advances in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Therapies (AAT-AD/PD) Focus Meeting in April.

The company has come up empty with the candidate. In November 2016, a Phase 3 study, EXPEDITION3, failed as well.

Solanezumab is a monoclonal antibody that binds to a type of protein called amyloid beta after it is produced, allowing it to be cleared from the brain before forming amyloid plaques, the accumulation of which is associated with AD. Drug candidates targeting amyloid plaques have struggled to demonstrate a statistically valid functional treatment benefit, however.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3539933-lillys-solanezumab-flunks-latest-alzheimers-study-shares-down-4-premarket