Our investment in the BACE inhibitor and other important compounds in our pipeline requires years, and sometimes decades, of investment.

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For its part, Merck notes that its BACE inhibitor recently demonstrated a reduction in cerebral spinal fluid, or CSF, a biomarker, in a Phase I study.

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To be specific, Merck (MRK) will test a beta-amyloid precursor protein site-cleaving enzyme, or BACE, inhibitor, which the drugmaker notes is the first drug with this type of mechanism to advance to this stage of clinical research.

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The result is confirmed through BACE regressions.

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