The huge medicine company Merck is stopping its research and experiment about Verubecestat. It is the second phase out of third and the healthcare company has put it to a halt of what could have been the cure for Alzheimer's disease.
This is Merck second failure into finding a solution for the dreaded disease, Alzheimer's. They have stopped the clinical study, EPOCH. The drug Verubecestat is what they are testing and it seems like it is not working for people with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease. Motley Fool has reported that in the beginning of the study, Verubecestat showed improvement. The patients that took the drug has decreased or slowed down the progression of Alzheimer's disease.
However, it did not live to its initial promise. Merck's Verubecestat is made to go into the beta-site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1). BACE1 inhibitors were made to prevent the clump and multiplying of the amyloid plaque, which is pieces of protein, clumped together and build up over time. Verubecestat has "virtually no chance of finding a positive clinical effect" in improving cognition", said Merck's external data-monitoring committee.
Many other healthcare and drug companies have tried. Lilly's solanezumab that has the same goal as Merck's Verubecestat did not cure early stages of Alzheimer's disease. Roche, Biogen and Axovant Sciences have also failed but are still trying to find the best solution.
The Alzheimer's Organization has spoken up about it. They said that it was good that the medicine will still be tested to people with an earlier stage of Alzheimer's disease. However, they were disappointed and sad that it has failed again. They were hoping that it would succeed to stop people with dementia have Alzheimer's disease.
Deaths from dementia are increasing every year. Research suggests that a person gets it every three minutes. A million are expected to suffer from it in the year 2021. "As we continue to hunt for a cure and new treatments, we must concentrate on finding the best ways to care for people living with dementia now," Dr Doug Brown, Director of Research at Alzheimer's Society, said. Brown also said that efforts need to be doubled to solve this issue.
