Big Pharma Is Losing a Fortune Trying to Cure Alzheimer's
- Merely forgetful patients are targeted in latest research
- AC Immune, Roche forge ahead despite failed intermediate test
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Alzheimer’s disease is rewriting the rules of drug discovery, with a handful of companies abandoning caution to keep pursuing an elusive hypothesis because the potential payoff is so great.
Even the merely forgetful, whose lives have yet to be derailed by the disease, have become candidates for clinical tests. Scanning the brain for telltale signs of Alzheimer’s earlier -- and ratcheting up drug dosage -- may help turn failures into breakthroughs, said Andrea Pfeifer, chief executive officer of AC Immune SA. The Swiss company’s partner on its experimental drug, pharmaceutical giant Roche Holding AG, said this week it will embark on a second advanced test, undeterred by a failed intermediate trial.