Eli Lilly Teams Up With UK Pharmaceutical Company For New Alzheimer’s Drug

Eli Lilly yesterday announced a partnership with U. K. drug maker AstraZeneca to develop and commercialize a potential new drug for Alzheimer’s.  AstraZeneca will produce the drug, ASD3293, and Lilly will lead the clinical trials.  The drug is one of a class of drugs called BASE inhibitors.   BASE inhibitors inhibit an enzyme, beta-secretase, which is involved in forming the plaques in the brain, one of the characteristics of Alzheimer’s disease.  BASE inhibitors are believed to be a promising target for treatment of Alzheimer’s, but several trial drugs have been abandoned because of serious side-effects.  Last year Lilly stopped trials with a BASE inhibitor it had developed after the drug was shown to cause liver toxicity.  Merck also has a BASE inhibitor, MK8931, in clinical trials. Developers of drugs to fight Alzheimer’s have the prospect of big rewards, with an estimated 5 to 20 billion dollars in annual sales. There are also big risks.  A recent study in the Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy journal found a success rate of just 0.4% for drugs in this field that were developed between 2002 and 2012.