Biogen halts studies of closely watched Alzheimer’s drug, a blow to hopes for new treatment

Alzheimer’s disease has beaten back another effort to tame it.

Biogen and its Japanese pharma partner Eisai said Thursday that they were halting two Phase 3 clinical trials of aducanumab, a drug that was designed to slow the worsening of Alzheimer’s by targeting brain-destroying protein fragments known as beta-amyloid.

The decision to stop the trials was based on an interim analysis conducted by an independent monitoring committee. This analysis concluded that aducanumab was unlikely to benefit Alzheimer’s patients compared to placebo when the trials completed, Biogen and Eisai said.

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