Elan's original Alzheimer's vaccine, which aims to teach the body to destroy the plaques that appear in the brains of Alzheimer's patients, was much-hyped before side effects emerged and the company ran into a whole mess of problems.
Its finances slightly more secure, Elan plans to push a new Alzheimer's vaccine into clinical trials.
Investors apparently expected information about a new anti-Alzheimer's antibody or a new version of an Alzheimer's vaccine that was pulled from clinical trials after it caused brain problems.
The Alzheimer's vaccine, code-named AN-1792, was in midstage clinical trials.
To even begin testing its Alzheimer's vaccine in humans, Elan will have to convince regulators in the U.S. and Europe that the new version is likely to be safe.
Elan and American Home Products have ended trials of their Alzheimer's vaccine--once seen as one of the most promising new approaches to treating the disease--after 15 patients suffered a potentially serious side effect: swelling of the central nervous system.
Then tests of a new vaccine to treat Alzheimer's were stopped after the medicine caused brain swelling, sending scientists back to the drawing board.
The researchers also received a report from Elan Pharmaceuticals that an experimental vaccine designed to fight Alzheimer's disease appears to be safe in humans.
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First, the company quietly said it was temporarily stopping mid-stage trials of the Alzheimer's treatment, a therapeutic vaccine dubbed AN-1792, because four patients had become sick.
The team will now carry out further research to see if the vaccine can curb memory loss in Alzheimer's mice as well as reduce their plaque burden.
University of Southampton neuropathologist James Nicoll autopsied nine Alzheimer's patients who got Elan's vaccine in 2000.
The vaccine, called AN-1792, was a daring new approach to treating Alzheimer's.
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