Lilly stops Alzheimer’s drug trial

Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) has announced that it has stopped development of an experimental drug called semagacestat for Alzheimer’s disease, after studies found it worsened patients’ conditions and was associated with an increased risk of skin cancer.

The company reviewed preliminary data from 2,600 patients enrolled in two Phase III trials, researchers found that patients treated with semagacestat worsened to a statistically significantly greater degree than those receiving placebo, Chief Executive Officer John Lechleiter said.

Eli Lilly & Co, an Indianapolis company has aimed to its Alzheimer’s studies as a promising area of new, innovative treatments that could help turn around is fortunes.

The company states that its decision to stop development may likely lead to a third-quarter charge to earnings of approximately $.03 to $.04 per share. It had been hoped that sales of semagacestat would help substitute some of that lost revenue. Lilly’s share price have seem some changes within the last five years, losing about 33.5 percent of its value. That compared with a much smaller drop of about 8.5 percent for its peer S&P 500 Health Care Index.

Semagacestat was created to lower the body’s production of the plaques by inhibiting the activity of an enzyme, called gamma secretase, that is thought to play an crucial role in formation of the plaque.