Salt Lake-based Myriad Genetics Inc. said Monday that Flurizan, its lead experimental drug, failed to slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease in a study, the trial's main goal. It did show promise in patients with a mild form of the illness.
The preliminary analysis indicates Flurizan may be more effective as a treatment for people in the early stage of the memory-robbing disease, Myriad Genetics said in a statement. A larger study of the drug already under way may be altered to focus only on those types of patients, the company said.
Limiting the use of Flurizan only to patients with mild disease shouldn't have a significant impact on eventual sales, Adrian Hobden, president of Myriad Genetics' pharmaceutical unit, said in an interview Monday. He said he wasn't sure if revising the current study midstream would delay the drug's development or whether another clinical trial might be needed.
"Everybody has to go through mild Alzheimer's disease before they get to moderate disease," Hobden said. "Slowing in mild disease is what you want to do."
Flurizan is designed to reduce levels of a peptide in the brain that harms the nerves and contributes to damaging plaque build-up.
"This is really the first test of a drug working by this new mechanism," Hobden said.
Myriad Genetics shares slipped 1 cent to close at $16.15 Monday in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. Before Monday, they had fallen 28 percent this year.
The one-year study, the second of three normally required to win U.S. drug approval, included 189 patients with mild to moderate disease at medical centers in the United Kingdom and Canada. Flurizan wasn't significantly better than placebo on any of the three main goals of the study — slowing the progression of dementia, mental loss or behavioral change, the company said.
Patients with mild Alzhei-mer's getting high doses of the drug showed less of a decline in dementia and the ability to care for themselves than those getting a placebo. The patients were receiving standard drug therapy for Alzheimer's disease, which typically slows the condition, in addition to Flurizan.
About 4.5 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease, which killed former U.S. President Ronald Reagan last year, and the number has doubled since 1980, according to the Alzheimer's Association. The progressive disease damages nerve cells in the brain, eventually hobbling memory, thinking and behavior.
Myriad Genetics also is studying Flurizan for the treatment of prostate cancer.