Elan, Wyeth suspend Alzheimer's study

Biotech group Elan said last night that a mid-stage clinical trial of an Alzheimer's vaccine it is developing with Wyeth has …

Biotech group Elan said last night that a mid-stage clinical trial of an Alzheimer's vaccine it is developing with Wyeth has been suspended while the companies look into a potentially serious side effect suffered by one patient in the study.

Dosing in the study of the experimental vaccine, ACC-001, was halted after the patient was hospitalized with skin lesions from what the physician serving as lead researcher suspected was a case of vasculitis, an inflammation of blood vessels.

"Following discussion with the FDA, all further dosing has been suspended while this particular event is fully evaluated," Jonathan Birt, a spokesman for Ireland-based Elan, said.

The companies are in talks with health regulators and the physician to further understand the clinical and scientific issues, Mr Birt added.

He said the patient has been released from the hospital and the lesions are healing.

The companies stressed that the vaccine and study in question has no connection to bapineuzumab, their lead Alzheimer's drug candidate also being developed with Wyeth that is in late-stage clinical testing.

At 9am shares in Elan were trading at €15.77 on the Dublin market, up over 3 per cent on yesterday's closing price.