Irish newspaper talks about Elan & Wyeth drug

Alzheimer's prediction helps Elan jump 6pc
By Ailish O'Hora
Tuesday April 08 2008
http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/alzheimers-prediction-helps-elan-jump-6pc-1341260.html


Shares in Elan finished yesterday up over 6pc at €14.72 on the back of estimates that an Alzheimer's treatment co-developed by the Irish drugmaker and international giant Wyeth could notch up sales of over $13bn and surpass Pfizer's cholesterol treatment Lipitor to become the biggest drug of all-time.

According to a report in the influential Wall Street publication Barron's, healthcare investor Larry Feinberg, whose flagship healthcare hedge fund Oracle Investment Management has averaged 21pc over the past 18 years, said that the effect on Wyeth's shares could be a 50pc increase over the next year.

In early 2002, Wyeth was forced to halt an Alzheimer's vaccine trial after 18 out of 300 patients developed encephalitis. But the report stated that the two companies are sponsoring research aimed at neutralising the adverse reaction.

Wyeth researchers believe that what caused the brain swelling was the use of an "active" inoculation that mobilises the body's immune system to produce antibodies. So in 2005, they began testing a "passive" vaccine that supplies antibodies directly to fight senile plaques in the brain -- a characteristic feature of Alzheimer's Disease.

The US Federal Drug Administration (FDA) fast-tracked the study after patients seemed to show signs of mental improvement from even moderate doses of the drug. Results of the Phase II trial on 240 patients are due in June and there is also an ongoing Phase III trial, involving 4,100 people and costing an estimated $300m -- although it will probably be years before the treatment is fully tested and reviewed by regulators. Other biotechnology companies are also testing Alzheimer's treatments.

Elan is probably more famous for its multiple sclerosis treatment Tysabri which is also used to treat Crohn's disease.

Shares in Elan tumbled back in February when it emerged that Tysabri could cause significant liver damage in patients.

At the time, the US regulator, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that Elan and its US partner Biogen Idec had written to doctors to warn them of the danger.

Tysabri was taken off the market in 2005 shortly after its initial launch after three cases of a potentially fatal brain infection known as progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy emerged.

The drug returned to the market in 2006 with limits after the FDA decided MS patients were willing to accept the risks in light of possible benefits.

- Ailish O'Hora