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LONDON (Alliance News) - AstraZeneca PLC said Tuesday it has decided to discontinue trials of a new drug for Alzheimer's disease as the treatment is unlikely to meet its primary test goals.
The UK listed pharmaceutical company and partner Eli Lilly & Co, a US healthcare company, have decided to discontinue Phase III clinical trials of lanabecestat, an oral beta secretase cleaving enzyme inhibitor, for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, which causes progressive decline in memory and other aspects of cognition.
"The decision is based on recommendations by an independent data monitoring committee, which concluded that both the Amaranth trial, in early Alzheimer's disease, and the Daybreak-ALZ trial, in mild Alzheimer's disease dementia, were not likely to meet their primary endpoints upon completion and therefore should be stopped for futility. As a result of this decision, the related Amaranth extension trial will also be discontinued," AstraZeneca said.
The AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly alliance for lanabecestat remains in place and the companies now intend to work with the clinical trial sites involved to implement the discontinuations, the UK company said.
The discontinuation of lanabecestat trial for Alzheimer's disease is not expected to have a material impact on AstraZeneca's financial guidance for 2018, which remains unchanged.
"The complexity of Alzheimer's disease poses one of the most difficult medical challenges of our time, and we are deeply disappointed for the millions suffering from this devastating disease," said Daniel Skovronsky, president of Lilly Research Labs.
Shares in AstraZeneca were trading 0.6% lower at 5,335.00 pence each.
Separately Tuesday, clinical trial data management services provider IXICO PLC also announced the cessation of a trial of an Alzheimer's disease treatment.
IXICO shares were down 11% at 30.00p each in afternoon trade.
IXICO in its statement didn't state whether or not the treatment in question was AstraZeneca's lanabecestat. A spokesperson for IXICO declined to comment on the details of the contract or the parties involved.
IXICO was providing specialist imaging clinical trial services for the trial. The USD7.7 million contract for the clinical trial was secured in September 2017 by IXICO and was scheduled to end in 2024. Over the past three years, IXICO recognised USD2.0 million from the contract.
The termination of the trial is not expected to materially impact the company's performance and IXICO remains on track to generating revenue in excess of GBP4.5 million and meet market expectations for the current financial year.
IXICO remains on track to deliver double-digit revenue growth, generating revenue in excess of GBP4.5 million, and meet market expectations for the year ending September 30. The trial discontinuation was not related to IXICO's performance.
