antiquity
02-22-2002, 11:09 AM
New setback in Elan Alzheimer drug tests
DUBLIN, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Irish drugmaker Elan Corp on Friday confirmed that patients taken ill in trials of its experimental Alzheimer's vaccine had increased in number.
Shares in the company slipped around six percent after Friday's edition of the Washington Post said 12 patients had taken ill in testing of the AN-1792 vaccine. The trials were halted last month when four became sick.
"The company can confirm there have been a number of additional cases of adverse events identified," a spokesman told Reuters. He declined to say exactly how many new cases there were, describing the number as "a handful."
"All the cases are being individually evaluated, and once that review is complete, the data will be given to an independent safety monitoring board."
The news adds to Elan's problems, which include a battered share price, a grim 2002 profit warning and a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission probe into allegations of deceptive accounting practices.
At 1420 GMT shares in the company were down 5.96 percent on the Irish bourse at 15.0 euros.
Citing sources in contact with Elan officials, the Washington Post said 12 volunteers had become ill with brain inflammation. The trials were being conducted at a number of sites in Europe and the U.S.
Analyst Jack Gorman at Dublin's Davy Stockbrokers said the news was "very damaging for the future prospects of this particular compound."
But he added development risk was "a given" in the pharmaceutical industry, and "it would be extremely premature to dismiss Elan's entire Alzheimer's research programme on the back of the possible failure of one compound." In a note Dublin-based NCB Stockbrokers said the "best case scenario" was that Elan's Alzheimer's programme would be delayed by nine to 12 months.
"It appears at this stage that the company needs to change its strategy in developing an effective therapy against this disease," it said.
In January Elan announced it was temporarily suspending phase IIa clinical trials of AN-1792, which is being developed with American Home Products Corp, after four patients in France became ill.
09:52 02-22-02
DUBLIN, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Irish drugmaker Elan Corp on Friday confirmed that patients taken ill in trials of its experimental Alzheimer's vaccine had increased in number.
Shares in the company slipped around six percent after Friday's edition of the Washington Post said 12 patients had taken ill in testing of the AN-1792 vaccine. The trials were halted last month when four became sick.
"The company can confirm there have been a number of additional cases of adverse events identified," a spokesman told Reuters. He declined to say exactly how many new cases there were, describing the number as "a handful."
"All the cases are being individually evaluated, and once that review is complete, the data will be given to an independent safety monitoring board."
The news adds to Elan's problems, which include a battered share price, a grim 2002 profit warning and a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission probe into allegations of deceptive accounting practices.
At 1420 GMT shares in the company were down 5.96 percent on the Irish bourse at 15.0 euros.
Citing sources in contact with Elan officials, the Washington Post said 12 volunteers had become ill with brain inflammation. The trials were being conducted at a number of sites in Europe and the U.S.
Analyst Jack Gorman at Dublin's Davy Stockbrokers said the news was "very damaging for the future prospects of this particular compound."
But he added development risk was "a given" in the pharmaceutical industry, and "it would be extremely premature to dismiss Elan's entire Alzheimer's research programme on the back of the possible failure of one compound." In a note Dublin-based NCB Stockbrokers said the "best case scenario" was that Elan's Alzheimer's programme would be delayed by nine to 12 months.
"It appears at this stage that the company needs to change its strategy in developing an effective therapy against this disease," it said.
In January Elan announced it was temporarily suspending phase IIa clinical trials of AN-1792, which is being developed with American Home Products Corp, after four patients in France became ill.
09:52 02-22-02