Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Some Mixed Clinical Trials News, Out Of Kenilworth Tonight...


At least some parts/arms of the company's ongoing Alzheimer’s BACE1 inhibiting candidate studies have seen new enrollment ended -- i.e., have been halted for futility.

But Merck is continuing other parts, and announced decent results in an unrelated HIV-1 candidate Phase III study, tonight. Here's the materially important bit (the rest ought not move Kenilworth's stock much either way, on the NYSE, in the morning tomorrow):

. . . .Merck. . . announced that it will be stopping protocol 017, also known as the EPOCH study, a Phase 2/3 study evaluating verubecestat, an investigational small molecule inhibitor of the beta-site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1), in people with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Merck is stopping the study following the recommendation of the external Data Monitoring Committee (eDMC), which assessed overall benefit/risk during a recent interim safety analysis, and determined that there was "virtually no chance of finding a positive clinical effect." The eDMC noted that safety signals observed in the study "are not sufficient to warrant stopping study 017," and recommended that protocol 019, also known as APECS, which is evaluating verubecestat in people with prodromal Alzheimer’s disease, continue unchanged. Results from protocol 019 are expected in February 2019. Results from EPOCH will be analyzed and presented at an upcoming scientific meeting. . . .


Our prior November 4, 2016 (smile) backgrounder here. Now you know -- onward, for some sweet silly fun. . . .

नमस्ते

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